Meta Reportedly Bans Texas Gay Bar’s Account Over “G-Rated” Drag Queen Pics

Posts featuring a drag queen landed Austin, Texas-based gay bar Rain on 4th in hot water with social media company Meta, leading to their account being deleted, per a new report. Scott Neal, the president of Rain on 4th and a managing member of Oilcan Harry’s, another queer bar, told local news outlet Chron that Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, disabled the page for Rain on 4th on July 30 without any explanation. After filing an appeal on July 31, the Instagram was deleted three days later without any indication why. "You feel helpless, you feel like you are stuck in an unfair system that you do not know how to get out of," Neal told Chron.After having their old page deleted, Rain on 4th started a new Instagram page, which was then deleted, alongside their old page being restored on August 21. Eventually, Neal says that he was able to get in touch with a person at Meta to see which posts were flagged for content violation. None of the posts flagged as inappropriate for people under 18 featured nudity or even the scantily-clad dancers that occasionally pop up at the bar. Rather, the flagged posts featured what the bar described in an Instagram post as “G-rated” photos of drag queens, including Austin queen Brigette Bandit. “Those are not marked as inappropriate,” Neal said in reference to photos of dancers that weren’t flagged, “but a smiling drag queen is flagged.” Meta declined to comment to Chron, saying that the company doesn’t comment on individual cases of content moderation.What happened to Rain on 4th is part of a worrying trend affecting LGBTQ+ establishments nationwide. In June, Meta banned the Instagram page belonging to Wilka’s Sports Bar, a queer-owned NYC bar, without explanation for “violating community guidelines.” The account has since been restored. In September, the Los Angeles Times reported that several LGBTQ+ bars citywide had had their accounts flagged and deleted. San Francisco-based gay bar The Stud