Facebook officials are set to meet with the activists and officials in San Francisco on Wednesday regarding the social network's real-names policy.

The policy, which required users to use their legal name on profiles, has been receiving numerous criticisms especially from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual (LGBT) community, after some transgender and drag queens were not able to log-in to their Facebook accounts.

Like Us on Facebook

The real-names policy is basically not new but the incident about users being locked out has enraged the LGBT people.

One drag performer named Sister Roma has experienced being locked out. She is part of the respected institution in San Francisco known as "The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence". She noted that she had to use her legal name, Michael Williams, in order to get into her account.

She also posted a status update on her account regarding the subject. She said that she received emails from people who are sharing their stories about why they don't use their real name.

She said: "There are many people who were abused, shunned, discriminated against, fought custody battles, survived addiction, and maintain profiles that are very real and very separate from your legal identity."

Due to this, a number of users took it to Twitter to express their thoughts using the #mynameis hashtag. Also, a petition in change.org has been created and now has over 17,000 signatures supporting the LGBT community.

A spokesperson from Facebook released a statement instructing those who want to use another name to use different options available on the site, such as providing an "alias" under their real name or creating a Page for an alternative name.

The spokesperson noted that it is not discriminating but they just wanted to raise user safety and accountability standards.

A San Francisco Supervisor, Scott Weiner, supports the LGBT community in the area. He noted that he understands the Facebook policy, but that Facebook has to adjust to allow for diversity. 

TagsReal Names, Policy, Locked out, Drag performers, Transsexuals, LGBT community, San Francisco