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Woman Named Tru Love Has No Love For Facebook's 'Real Name' Policy

LOS ALTOS (CBS SF) -- Tru Love can't convince Facebook her name is really true. 

The social media company's 'real name' police have zeroed in on Love, pulling the plug on her Facebook page and nothing she can do will convince them Tru Love is indeed her "authentic name."

Facebook explains the policy on its site:

Facebook is a community where people use their authentic identities. We require people to provide the name they use in real life; that way, you always know who you're connecting with. This helps keep our community safe.

Love is one of many whose Facebook pages have disappeared after their accounts were suspended because of the policy.

It has happened so often to users in the LGBT community, that a group of San Francisco drag queens has launched a petition to ban Facebook from future Pride events. The group met with Facebook last October to address the situation, and Facebook even issued an apology to the LGBT community. After months, though, the problem still persists.

According to the petition, "thousands of LGBT users are locked out of their accounts, lose access to their photos, news feeds, and are cut off from their social network." So, far more than 2000 people have signed it.

As for Love, she has even uploaded a picture of her driver's license to prove she is using a real name, but she remains frozen out of her account.

Love told the Chronicle it was especially painful because she couldn't post her Mother's Day photos over the holiday weekend.

"I really love my name, but at times I wish people would remember I am a real person," said the stay at home mom. "It hurts. It really does. It's my identity, it's who I am."

The LGBT petition calls the policy is a form of cyber bullying. Users say they feel "defeated, disregarded, abandoned, alone, frightened, and even suicidal as a result of being banned from Facebook because of their identities."

Love knows that feeling. She said she gets really frustrated when people tell her she should use a different name for Facebook, not the one her 60s "peace, love and tie-dye" parents gave her.

Choking back tears she told the Chronicle, "I get really upset. I am being discriminated against because of my name."

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