I really appreciate the folks at @privacyguides talking about trans people when discussing real-name policies.
For people like me who cannot legally change our names or genders at all (🇭🇺), a real-name policy is effectively a perma-ban from a platform.
I'd never wish upon anyone the pain of searching "Is "legal name" required for [service]" and finding out that you either have to choose between not using it or having an anxiety-inducing panic-ridden terror-show slowly infest it. What to many is a mild annoyance to us is an impassable wall.
And now with age verification it has gotten even worse. How can I prove my age when my ID doesn't match my name? How can I even prove the account is mine? It's either deadname, or deletion.
It's cost me friendships, mutuals, the fun of using the internet... All that's left are the strongholds like Mastodon, built to resist these very policies. Besides them, where else could we go?
#ageverification #idverification #trans #transgender #agechecks #privacy