Earlier this year, Facebook approved a new policy that allowed a broader range of gender identifications to be used on social profiles. The policy change, instead of just asking users to choose from “male” and “female,” offered 50 other options, including “other” and specific transgender identifications. The move was a resounding sign of acceptance from Facebook, but according to a report from Tech Times, the company may have just taken a step back.

This week, on September 10, many performers were automatically logged out of their Facebook profiles and had their accounts suspended. Facebook said that the move was made to enforce its policy that users are only allowed to use their real, legal names on personal profiles. Since many performers are known under pseudonyms or aliases, many of them were affected Facebook’s decision to crack down.

Unfortunately, the Tech Times article makes it sound like many of the profile suspensions were directed at drag queens, potentially suggesting homophobia and discrimination. Facebook, of course, have downplayed the accusations, saying that their actions are only motivated by a desire to keep the social community safe. As far as Facebook is concerned, real names need to be used on personal profiles so that people know who they are connecting with when they get a friend request.

But another motivation behind Facebook’s decision to enforce the “real name” policy could be a more calculated one. The company says that performers using aliases or personas that are separate from their personal identities need to create specific fan pages for those personas. Since Facebook users have to pay to set up these promotional artist or business pages, it would be beneficial toward Facebook’s bottom line to get performers such as drag queens to separate their profiles and pay up to do so.

Most artists, including musicians and actors, already have promotional fan pages, but drag queens have thus far been allowed to use their performing personas on their personal pages.

Not that the affected transgendered performers are going to cooperate just yet: a petition against the real name policy and its potential discriminatory leanings has so far gathered roughly 7,000 signatures. Whether Facebook will respond to the protests remains to be seen.