Thursday, July 12, 2007
No Gay On Facebook
You're allowed to be Hitler, but don't even try being Gay on social networking site Facebook.
It's been revealed that the popular website - which boasts it has more than 30 million members from around the world - does not allow people with the common Anglo Saxon surname Gay to join, assuming it is not a legitimate name.
After a story in New Zealand's Dominion Post about 30-year-old Rowena Gay, who was denied entry to site because of her last name, smh.com.au undertook a test and found a person with the last name Gay was indeed not allowed to join.
"Please enter a legitimate name,'' the website stated during our attempt. And while the website refused Gay, it had no problem allowing us to join with the last name Hitler.
Thousands of people across Australia share the surname.
Duncan Gay, the NSW leader of the Nationals in the NSW upper house and Deputy Opposition Leader in the upper house, is the state's most prominent citizen with the name.
While initially he wasn't clear what Facebook was, once it was explained to him, Mr Gay said he was "bothered" by the decision.
"That's a bit tough, it's pretty ordinary ... it bothers me to the extent that quite often when you give your name you get a twitter. People looking and smirking. This is a continuation of that."
The last name had been a burden for his children through school, Mr Gay said.
"While it wasn't tough for me, particularly for my son going through school, with the name ... if they're removing Gay from [Facebook] it becomes a problem for my family.
"I'm not ruling out protesting vigorously about this," Mr Gay quipped.
The New Zealand Ms Gay eventually signed up to Facebook substituting her middle name, Janette, for her actual surname.
She told the Post her father had faced problems with the surname when he moved to Britain to teach in 2003.
"The school asked him to consider changing his name to Mr Gray because the kids here are ruthless," she said.
Comment is being sought from Facebook.
from The Sydney Morning Herald
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