Facebook Responds to Criticism of 'Real Name' Policy — With Real Change

Without once using the word “change,” Facebook has announced it’s “improving the way it’s enforcing its ‘real name’ policy.” But even without calling it a change, this represents the biggest evolution by the social network to allow users to self-identify since it introduced a wide variety of gender profiles in recognition of the nonconforming users who don’t fit the traditional binary. 

The announcement Friday came in the form of a letter from Facebook’s vice president of growth, Alex Schultz, to users and groups that have petitioned Facebook for changes. 

They include drag queens, drag kings, transgender people, and others, including Native Americans, who used aliases or pseudonyms and were reported for having “fake names.”

Most famously, a trans woman who goes by “Zip” — who helped Facebook expand its gender profiles — was blocked because the social media site deemed her name not “real” enough.

Facebook spokesman William Nevius tells The Advocate, contrary to reports, the name policy stands; what’s new is the way in which it is “implemented,” which Nevius frankly admitted could be better.

Nevius described what’s happening as “a process” and said that while the policy itself is not changing, Facebook recognizes that users need to be able to confirm their name more easily when asked, and the company needs to reduce the number of people being asked to verify their name.

Pseudonyms and aliases are still not permitted, he says, but by following steps outlined online, users can register the names they’re known by to friends, family, and fans. In his letter, Schulz described what happens next as a “test”:

“We now plan to test a new process that will let people provide more information about their circumstances. This should help our Community Operations team better understand the situation. It will also help us better understand the reasons why people can’t currently confirm their name, informing potential changes we make in the future.”

Schultz wrote that Facebook officials “understand the challenges for many transgender people when it comes to formally changing one’s name. That’s why we’re making changes now and in the future, and will continue to engage with you and all who are committed to looking after the most vulnerable people using our product.”

Here’s what Facebook is doing:

Users who are challenged will be invited to provide details on why they’ve chosen a certain name for their account if it’s not their legal name. 

Facebook is reassuring users who are flagged for using a possibly inauthentic name that real people are on hand to help them, to give them “more personalized help throughout the confirmation process” and “advising them on the various types of non-legal documents they can provide.”

And a new requirement will be part of the confirmation process, directed at the people who flag a name as fake, according to Schultz. Those reporting an allegedly fake name will be required to provide detailed information, in an effort to prevent trolling, a frequent complaint among trans users. 

“We are deeply invested in making this better,” Schultz wrote. “I’ve seen first hand how people — including LGBT people — can be bullied online by people using fake or impersonating accounts.”

To analyze how big that problem is, Facebook revealed for the first time publicly that it conducted a one-week experiment this past spring, comparing a group of users reported for allegedly using fake names against a control group. The conclusion? “Bullying, harassment or other abuse on Facebook is eight times more likely to commited by people using names other than their own than by the rest of the Facebook community,” Schultz wrote.

Nevius tells The Advocate he has no details on how large the group was, and provided no other information other than it being conducted over one week in the spring. 

This is not the first attempt by Facebook to close the book on this controversy since it erupted last year. The conflict and attempts to get the social media giant to modify its policy spurred the #MyNameIs hashtag, a Kickstarter petition, and public protests. 

The furor reached a new level over the summer when protesters carried signs, spelling out “Shame on FB,” in San Francisco’s Pride Parade, which is sponsored in part by Facebook.

But to those arguing for the website to drop its name policy altogether, Schultz made it clea: that’s not happening. Facebook’s “authentic identity” policy will be maintained, Schultz wrote, saying he believes it reduces trolling by making people accountable for their actions online.

“When people use the name others know them by, they are more accountable for what they say, making it more difficult to hide behind an anonymous name to harass, bully, spam or scam someone else,” said Schultz.

Earlier this month, organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote an open letter to Facebook, asking for the policy to be changed to “provide equal treatment and protection for all who use and depend on Facebook as central platform for online expression and communication.”

“It’s a balance to get this right,” Schultz wrote in reply. “We want to find a line that minimizes bullying but maximizes the potential for people to be their authentic selves on Facebook.”

As to when these “improvements” will take effect, there’s no firm date. Schultz wrote:

“These improvements will take some time to test and implement, but a team is working on this and people should start seeing the tests in December. Between now and then, we will be gathering additional feedback from the community to make sure we are on the right track. Once the changes are rolled out, we will learn how people use them and continue to make further improvements.”

Read Schultz’s letter here, read Facebook’s policy on names that it considers acceptable here, and find the list of forms of identification accepted by Facebook here. You can read a Facebook blog post from June that details the evolution of the name policy here.

Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/transgender/2015/11/01/facebook-responds-criticism-real-name-policy-real-change

Open Question: Was Laurence Olivier Bisexual (LGBT)?
I have heard rumors about him being bisexual, which is strange as he was married to Vivien Leigh and Joan Plowright.

I like 1950s films and actors but did any actors at that time like women?

answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20151102182438AAzSseG

SCOTUS Rejects Appeal from Former MI Attorney and Anti-Gay Cyberbully Andrew Shirvell

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Andrew Shirvell, a former Michigan assistant attorney general who was ordered to pay $4.5 million in a defamation lawsuit to gay former University of Michigan student body president Chris Armstrong. Shirvell has been fighting the ruling for years.

In 2010 the Michigan attorney general’s office fired Shirvell for waging a homophobic personal campaign against Armstrong. In addition to harassing Armstrong at public demonstrations on campus, Shirvell ran a blog called the Chris Armstrong Watch which accused Armstrong of being a Nazi as well as a recruiter for ‘the cult that is homosexuality.’

Shirvell claimed that because his harassment of Armstrong took place outside the attorney general’s office, his actions were protected by the First Amendment. Courts thought otherwise, though a federal appeals court reduced the amount Shirvell was ordered to pay by $1 million, at the same time rejecting his request for a new trial.

SCOTUS today let stand the lower court decisions.

The post SCOTUS Rejects Appeal from Former MI Attorney and Anti-Gay Cyberbully Andrew Shirvell appeared first on Towleroad.

Andy Towle

SCOTUS Rejects Appeal from Former MI Attorney and Anti-Gay Cyberbully Andrew Shirvell

A Conversation with John Waters, the Pope of Trash

Enjoying that outrageously funny movie, politically incorrect comic, or zingy retort from a friend? Then you should send a thank-you to John Waters, the man who started shaking up the culture in the 1970s with his subversive, hilariously campy, deeply influential “midnight movies” like Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. Waters’s impact hardly ended there. He went on to write and direct two films (Hairspray and Cry-Baby) that were turned into Broadway musicals, and he’s also an author, speaker, and éminence grise who continues to cast a wacky spell on a society that needs him. From November 29 through December 23, the bard of Baltimore travels to 18 cities with A John Waters Christmas—Holier and Dirtier. I called him in Baltimore to ask about that, and about whether our community may have lost something as it hurtles toward acceptance.

Hello, John. Obviously, Christmas means a lot to you.
Nowadays, it’s when I work. It started when I wrote “Why I Love Christmas” in my book Crackpot, and then I did a show of that, and it mushroomed.

I’ve always wanted to ask if the Female Trouble scene of the Christmas tree landing on Dawn Davenport’s ma was inspired by the tree falling in the original Poseidon Adventure.
No, because what really happened was that a Christmas tree fell on my grandmother. I forgot that happened in The Poseidon Adventure. That movie did inspire me, though. When the lights come on [in his Christmas show] and I see the audience, I say, “Oh, The Poseidon Adventure!” because it feels like the whole thing is going to tip over. People have told me stories in their cities. Usually, cats or liquor are involved. I recommend everybody rig their own tree so it tips over at the height of opening the presents. I’m rigging everything to go wrong at Christmas so no one can be disappointed.

When people say “John Waters must love this movie,” do you?
They’re usually wrong. I think of all the terrible, 150 million–dollar, bad Hollywood gross-out comedies. I have had no way of causing them. Or maybe I have been a bad influence, with these terrible comedies that aren’t funny. The Jackass movies are the only ones…I love those movies.

Where do you stand in the movie-making business these days?
I don’t think I even do that right now. My last two books did great, and I’m involved in a TV project that might happen. I’m going to London for a big tribute at the British Film Institute.

And you’re a public speaker.
About 50 times a year. And I had an art show in New York this year. I have lots of careers and no hobbies. That’s the only thing I get furious about in an interview — if someone dares to ask if I have a hobby. The other worst question is, “Is there anything else you’d like to say?” Hold on, if I have to ask the questions too, give me part of your paycheck. And I hate when people say, “Let’s have fun with it.”

They mean well.
I know. In Baltimore, we use the term “hate” much more freely. Here, it just connotes mild discomfort or vague disliking.

Speaking of mild discomfort, did your fabulous drag star Divine have any angst problems, as some authors suggest?
I think Divine, when he died, was very, very happy. We got along great. Hairspray was a big hit, he got great reviews, and he was about to play a gay male part on Married With Children. Did he have moments of angstiness? Sure — when he was young, he was bullied and beaten up, and that’s where all that anger came from that he used for his characters.

And he wasn’t trans.
He didn’t want to be a woman. He wanted to pass as a monster.

Trans is so trendy now, it’s like the new navy blue of India. Is that worrisome?
It doesn’t worry me. I think maybe the refugee situation in Europe worries me more than transgender acceptance. By the way, I love drag kings — I think they look great. They show me their mastectomy scars and ask me to sign them and I love that. And I love radical feminists, even though I sometimes don’t agree with them. I don’t like women-hating gay men, but I don’t mind women that hate men. They have more reason.

Could you ever go back to basics and shoot a midnight movie with an iPhone?
No. I have no desire to be a 70-year-old faux underground filmmaker. And I’m not 70 yet.

You’ve been quite articulate about what we’ve lost as a community as we veer toward acceptance.
I always make fun of any kind of rules. But we’ve gained a huge amount. I was touched when I saw that Obama lit up the White House in gay colors [in June, to celebrate gay marriage]. Do I have my house in gay colors? Hell, no. It would seem corny in my house, but at the White House, it’s a radical political statement and something I wildly approve of.

But is there a price for assimilation?
I don’t want to hang around with just gay people. From the very beginning, I’ve thought of separatism as defeat.

Would you eliminate some gay people?
[Laughing] Some should be suspended. I want to give out gay deficiency slips. People that make gay people look like such clichés — Well, I guess they have the right to do that.

What are your thoughts on Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marital licenses in view of her religious beliefs?
I’ve applauded that kind of civil disobedience when it happens on the other side, but when you work for the government, it’s different. If she wanted to quit because of that, I’d applaud that because she’s standing up for what she believes in. But if you work at a job for an employer, you can’t just make up the rules. I think she’s a moron and an idiot and people should picket her home, but she has the right to quit.  I’d send her to beauty school, though.

Can any good come from all this?
Anita Bryant [a homophobic singer who stirred trouble in the 1970s] was one of the best things to happen to the gay movement. [She helped mobilize activism.] Well, we got a new villain!

Do you long for the days before we became so mainstream?
I don’t long for anything. But I hope the main thing we don’t lose is self-parody and a sense of humor, because then we become just mall walkers. There’s nothing the matter with wanting to be a gay, middle-class mall walker — though it’s different values than I have — but so what? That’s the whole point — you should have the right to be whatever kind of gay you want. Gay people can be bad mothers just like straight ones. You have a right to be a bad mother!

Is there anything else you’d like to say? Kidding!

MICHAEL MUSTO is the author of Manhattan on the Rocks, Downtown, and Fork on the Left, Knife in the Back, and a weekly columnist for OUT.com.
Michael Musto

www.advocate.com/current-issue/2015/11/02/conversation-john-waters-pope-trash

16 Things Divorce Teaches You About Marriage

You love differently — and usually, a whole lot smarter — after divorce.

Below, HuffPost Divorce bloggers and readers on Facebook share some of the things they wouldn’t have learned about marriage and relationships had it not been for their divorces.   

1. “If a relationship is problematic before marriage, it will be problematic on steroids after marriage. You’re at your best when you’re dating — before any real stressors like health issues, finances, kids or in-laws take hold. If your relationship is tenuous during the honeymoon phase, it’s only going to get worse down the road.” –Jodi Meltzer, Mommy Dish

2. “I didn’t realize how easy it is to get married — and how very difficult it is to get divorced.” –Sandi Farris 

3. “I wish I had known how unrecognizable the relationship would eventually become, and how deep my wife and I would have to look within ourselves to find the kernel of love that brought us together in the first place. Nobody ever really told me that once we got deep inside the maze of married life, our life would become unfamiliar.”  –Mike Hodor

4. 

5. “I wish I had known that I wasn’t going to be good at marriage. That it isn’t for everyone.” –Danille Worthen-Miller 

6. “Don’t marry your best friend. You can have many best friends. You need your partner to be loving, passionate, thoughtful, caring and sexual. It’s not all about having things in common, unfortunately. That spark needs to be there. You can’t fake passion and sincere sexual attraction.” –Cindy Yacina Abert 

7. “Live your life fully as a single person before you get married. In my opinion, the rush to have kids and make financial investments with a life partner puts the pressure on couples to say ‘I do’ before they really should.” –Julie Egri 

8. “I wish I had realized I’d be a different person at 32 and 42 and 52 than the person I was at 22. I wish someone had told me that I’d grow and change — and that the person I chose to marry needed to be someone who would embrace growth and change along with me.” –Lisa Lavia Ryan

9.

10. “I wish I had known marriage was going to be a learning experience, largely about myself. Some of that learning may have been hard but it’s been well worth it. Lasting love is never guaranteed. If a marriage does end before you plan, you have to try to be humane, civil and keep learning as you go.” –Bill Lennan 

11. “When you have children, the difference in your upbringings will matter. A lot.” –Alison Ring 

12.  “I wish someone had told me earlier that you simply can’t change (or ‘improve’) a man unless he really wants to change himself. The greatest lesson for me has been realizing that I need to appraise and focus on a man’s positive qualities. As the wise saying goes, ‘We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.'” –Christine Amour-Levar

13. 

14. “No matter how bad one person wants to stay married or how much love one person has for the other, if you both aren’t willing to make it work, your marriage will fail.” –Heidi Beale 

15. “You are never responsible for anyone else’s feelings. Ever. And don’t let someone blame you when you know you did nothing wrong.” –Satu Korby 

16. “I wish someone had told me that keeping a marriage alive and vibrant takes time and effort. The initial glow of a new relationship wears off and you have to put some work into it. You have to keep dating your spouse. Make the effort to communicate so you can fix the little problems before they become big problems.” –Chad Stone 

More From HuffPost: 

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Shocking: Boxer Comes Out As Bi, Says He Wasn’t Drugged In Gay Sex Tape After All

We imagine it’s been quite the couple of weeks for former boxing title contender Yusaf “Mack Attack” Mack. Aside from the whole gay porn past coming around to throw a wrench in his life, he’s had to learn the hard way that you can’t just make up an utterly preposterous story to a reporter and expect everything to smooth itself out.

Related: Professional Boxer Who Appeared In Gay Adult Film Says He Was Drugged, “Can’t Remember A Thing”

In case you missed it last week, Mack had the creme de la crem of implausible explanations for how he had somehow come to appear in a film produced by DawgPoundUSA.com. He said he’d been drugged and tricked into the whole debacle — points for originality, but alas, none for believability.

Related: Company Denies Drugging “Straight” Boxer Yusaf Mack And Making Him Appear In Hardcore Gay Skin Flick

DawgPound quickly went on the defensive (as we’d expect anyone being falsely accused of kidnapping and rape to do), releasing a statement that Mack’s accusations were as they appeared to be — a bunch of frantic backpedaling.

Well, it didn’t take long for Mack to come clean. He put out his own statement in which he comes out as bisexual.

It reads:

This is an issued public apology from my heart. I want to address a few situations with the first being the false claims I made about being drugged during the Dog Pound adult film. I have never spoke negatively about the company that produced the film although the claim to have been given a drug by someone during set was a lie. I was completely aware and fully conscious during the film.

The second situation, which further explain the first, concerns my lifestyle. I did participate in the adult film because at the time I needed money but also because I am a bisexual man. Meaning I enjoy safely being intimate with whomever I choose.

…

There are other men and women that are set up in the similar situations and I just hope I can be inspiration to be just be you. The extreme taboo and harsh criticism of living a same sex lifestyle, especially as an African American male, makes it hard to be completely honest and comfortable within yourself. But I had to remember that I am a champ & I can fight and will fight through this. I am more than my  sexual orientation.

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/BqssqgTYlkc/shocking-boxer-comes-out-as-bi-says-he-wasnt-drugged-in-gay-sex-tape-after-all-20151102

News: Male Model Monday, Ohio, SCOTUS Women, Dowager Countess, Leah Remini, ‘Vatileaks’

> Male Model Monday: Lucas Cattani Soldati.

> CBS announces a new Star Trek series is in development: “There is no better time to give Star Trek fans a new series than on the heels of the original show’s 50th anniversary celebration.”

> Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black look adorable taking in a football game in London (American football, that is).

> Ohio gets massive bill for fighting same-sex marriage: “Originally, attorneys defending same-sex marriage for Jim Obergefell asked the judge to award them $1.72 million in fees. Today, all parties agreed to a reduced amount: $1.5 million.” 

> VW emissions scandal continues to grow: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it is now looking at 3.0-liter V6 diesel engines used mostly in larger, more expensive models like the Porsche Cayenne sport utility vehicle in addition to engines on Jettas, Passats and other mass-market models whose test-deceiving software were initially targeted by the agency in mid-September.”

> Facebook relaxes ‘real name’ policy following protest by the LGBT community.

> Portrait of SCOTUS HBICs unveiled at Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery: “Museum director Kim Sajet said of the portrait, ‘I imagine this portrait will spark a conversation among young people, particularly young women, about breaking barriers.’” 

> Hacktivist group ‘Anonymous’ reveals names of KKK members. Said members quickly deny involvement in the group.

> Wreck of U.S. cargo ship El Faro (which went down in Hurricane Joaquin last month) found off the coast of the Bahamas.

> Adele’s “Hello” becomes first track to score 1 million downloads in 1 week.

> Maggie Smith has never seen Downton Abbey.

> Presumably Paul Hagis does not think highly of Leah Remini and/or her tell-all on Scientology. 

> Meanwhile, more details on Tom Cruise from Remini’s new book continue to be divulged. 

> Interactive map details the extent of Europe’s refugee crisis. 

> Two Vatican insiders, including “the pope’s lobbyist” arrested by Vatican officials for leaking documents. Vatican labels the crime a “grave betrayal”: “The tomes — which reportedly contain fresh revelations about corruption and mismanagement in the Vatican and about challenges to Francis’s push for internal reform — include one by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi. Nuzzi’s 2012 book on a ‘Vatileaks’ scandal rocked the papacy of Benedict XVI by detailing behind-the-scenes power struggles revealed in documents stolen by Benedict XVI’s butler. Nuzzi’s new book, according to his Italian publisher, is like a ‘crime novel’ and even quotes from recordings of Francis chastising his ‘top brass.’”

The post News: Male Model Monday, Ohio, SCOTUS Women, Dowager Countess, Leah Remini, ‘Vatileaks’ appeared first on Towleroad.

Sean Mandell

News: Male Model Monday, Ohio, SCOTUS Women, Dowager Countess, Leah Remini, ‘Vatileaks’