WATCH: Trans Advocate Brynn Tannehill's Powerful Advice on Anger, Allies
In her moving keynote speech at TransPride, ‘I Am Real,’ trans veteran Brynn Tannehill talks boldly about anger versus dignity and tolerance versus acceptance.
Mitch Kellaway
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Facebook's Name Policy Won't Accept Chase Nahooikaikakeolamauloaokalani Silva
Facebook's Name Policy Won't Accept Chase Nahooikaikakeolamauloaokalani Silva
Chase Nahooikaikakeolamauloaokalani Silva has a bone to pick with Facebook.
Last week, the social media platform froze Silva’s account because of a policy that suspends accounts suspected of fake names. Facebook says they want you to “always know who you’re connecting with,” and the policy was enacted to help “keep our community safe.”
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But his 29-letter middle name is real and the site doesn’t make it easy for him to prove it.
“That’s my name,” Silva wrote in a Facebook post, shortly after he was alerted to make the change. “I am a proud Hawaiian who wants to be able to display my Hawaiian given name.”
Story continues below…
Post by Chase N Silva.
The lengthy name, Silva told HuffPost, means “to be strong and draw strength from heaven above.” His great-grandmother who spoke the Native Hawaiian language fluently selected it for him.
He shortened it on Facebook to just the first letter to appease the policy because he said there was no easy way for him to access his account without first making the change. Then, there’s a series of informational pages and links that lead to a form where users can submit approved documents to confirm their identity.
“We’ve always required that people use their real identity on their Facebook profiles,” Andrew Souvall, a representative for Facebook told HuffPost in an email, adding that people tend to use “fake names to engage in bad behavior” online. “We also recognize that a person’s real identity is not necessarily the name that appears on their legal documentation,” he said, “and that’s why we accept other forms of identification.”
Facebook’s recent policy implementation caused an uproar among performers and drag queens in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community who identify with their stage names online and in real life. After a group of LGBT activists threatened to protest outside of Facebook’s San Francisco office, company officials agreed to discuss their concerns.
Silva, a self-described “proud gay male,” doesn’t plan on contacting Facebook to prove his name, and he says he shouldn’t have to. He believes that Facebook shouldn’t tell its 829 million active users daily what names they can and cannot use.
“Facebook should not be able to dictate what your name is, what you go by, what you answer to,” he told HuffPost. “Aside from the LGBT community, there are rape victims, abuse victims, even teachers, who use aliases because they don’t want people to contact them. It’s a protection of your identity.”
For Silva, his full, given name is a “badge of honor.”
“It’s not a standard name, obviously, in America’s eyes,” Silva, who was born and raised on Oahu before moving to Seattle in 2008, “but that’s the name that I’m proud of.”
Michigan AFL-CIO: ““Discrimination is Not Only Unfair and Un-American, It’s Anti-Competitive”
Michigan AFL-CIO: ““Discrimination is Not Only Unfair and Un-American, It’s Anti-Competitive”
Today Michigan AFL-CIO, a longtime supporter of a fully inclusive nondiscrimination bill, reiterated in an op-ed for The Detroit News its full-throated support of amending the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
HRC.org
Philly Drag Queen Gives 9/11 Performance As Muslim Woman In Bomb Jacket
Philly Drag Queen Gives 9/11 Performance As Muslim Woman In Bomb Jacket
Members of Philadelphia’s LGBT community are outraged this week following a local white drag queen’s September 11th performance, during which she apparently dressed as a Muslim woman wearing several bombs in what could be considered a “bomb vest.”
The performance was given by Ariel Versace (right) at an installment of Voyeur Nightclub’s annual “Drag Wars” competition, hosted by Drag Race veteran Mimi Imfurst
The weekly show is described as “RuPaul’s Drag Race meets The Voice” and operates much like Drag Race — several queens compete in lip synch challenges every week until one is crowned as the winner.
Last Thursday, contestant Ariel Versace took to the stage in what has been described as “Muslim garb,” holding toy bombs and wearing a vest that included a handful of toy bombs as well.
Though unconfirmed by the venue and show host, a disgruntled drag fan tells us that someone in the audience — perhaps involved in the performance — had also flown paper airplanes onto the stage, which were intercepted by Versace as part of the performance.
A drag fan tells us:
[Ariel] made a complete mockery out of the 9/11 tragedy by dressing up in Muslim garb and wearing bombs…As a former New York queen, I can’t believe [Mimi Imfurst] would allow such a production to not only go on, but then push through. More ridiculously, Jiggly Caliente, another NYC queen performed that night.
In response to a Facebook status on Mimi Imfurst’s wall earlier that day, Ariel seemed to know beforehand that her performance may not be received well. “I’m. Going. To. Hell. For. Tonight.,” she wrote:
At least two photos showing Ariel Versace in the offensive “Muslim garb” were posted to a Drag Wars photo album on Facebook but were removed before time of posting. We’re told by the photographer that they were taken down at Ariel’s request.
Art is subjective, but response to the offensive performance has been almost unanimously condemned on Facebook. Several Facebook fans have called the performance “disgusting,” “classless,” and “distasteful.”
Ariel Versace had not responded to multiple requests for comment at time of posting. A photo of the performance, as well as conversation regarding it, can be found below. If you have other photos or videos of Ms. Versace’s performance, please reach out to us at [email protected].
Post by Chris Picollelli.
Photo via Facebook
Queerty Editor
NEWS: House Vote on Syria, ‘Encyclopedia Madonnica', Bangladesh, James McAvoy
NEWS: House Vote on Syria, ‘Encyclopedia Madonnica', Bangladesh, James McAvoy
NYT: House Votes to Authorize Aid to Syrian Rebels in ISIS Fight
Zachary Quinto on James Franco’s interest in gay subject matter: “My feeling about James, in particular, is that he’s someone who is really interested in generating a dialogue… So I feel like putting it out there, and putting it out there in different ways, is something that’s interesting and something that I don’t think people should shy away from.”
“Queen” Britney may be extending her stay in Vegas.
Matthew Rettenmund over at Boy Culture launches Kickstarter for Encyclopedia Madonnica: 20th Anniversary Edition: “The planned book will be a much-overdue update to 1995’s Encyclopedia Madonnica, which, for years, was the literary authority on all things Madonna, featuring exhaustive A to Z entries on all of the superstar’s hit albums, videos, movies and tours, not to mention her Michigan upbringing, private relationships and business deals.”
Bangladesh set to veto UN proposal that would provide rights for lesbian and gay people: “It goes against our values. Like many other countries including those Muslims and Christian, we opposed it,” Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the UN Abdul Momen told the Dhaka Tribune.”
Mash-up: OITNB meets The Golden Girls.
Peter Thiel slams Twitter, says there’s “a lot of pot smoking going on over there.”
Extended trailer for season 4 of Revenge.
Theo Rossi from Sons of Anarchy goes for a shirtless run, provides some eye candy.
Folsom Street Fair is coming to San Francisco this weekend (and it’s work unfriendly).
Lupita Nyong’o and Elmo make a cute couple.
Is The Imitation Game ‘strangely shy’ about Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch)’s sexuality?
Apparently, the idea for AHS Freak Show came from Jessica Lange herself.
Matt Bomer cops a feel with Liv Tyler.
James McAvoy talks to Out Magazine about straight actors playing gay: “I think actors have always wanted to play those parts. They’re just not so bothered now about what those roles might say about their personal lives. It’s a nice wee sign of the times.”
Inappropriate selfie: A Source Tells CNN That Joan Rivers’ ENT Doctor Snapped A Selfie With Her During Her Throat Procedure
Sean Mandell
PastorCliblib Returns Adressing the LGBT Congregants
PastorCliblib Returns Adressing the LGBT Congregants
Our old friend The Reverend Cliblib (Had to change his name from "Clitlick")….and in his weekly address he honors the LGBT community.
Switch Bar
Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Marriage Decision: 'No Need For Us to Rush'
Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Marriage Decision: 'No Need For Us to Rush'
The Supreme Court justice’s latest remarks seem to contradict her own earlier prediction that the court will not duck the issue of marriage equality.
Sunnivie Brydum
5 Essential Tips For Straight Actors Playing Gay Characters
5 Essential Tips For Straight Actors Playing Gay Characters
Or at least, he’s good at playing gay, as far as straight actors go. While making the rounds to promote his well-received turn in the new movie, The Skeleton Twins, Hader has repeatedly been asked not only about his performance as Milo, a gay man whose failed acting career prompts a suicide attempt, but also about comparisons between Milo and Stefon, the flamboyant travel “expert” he made virally popular on Saturday Night Live. And justifiably so, these comparisons have surprised him.
Joe Manganiello: “I’m a Person Who Believe in Standing Up for Equality”
Joe Manganiello: “I’m a Person Who Believe in Standing Up for Equality”
This weekend, actor Joe Manganiello attended the Human Rights Campaign Seattle Dinner to accept the Ally for Equality Award.
HRC.org
