Deviant Events Banned by META: How the LGBTQ+ Nightlife Party Plans to Survive

Deviant Events has recently been banned by Meta. Despite this setback, the organization is moving forward with plans for a major MLK Weekend party series in Atlanta & DC!

When you think of Deviant Events, words like inclusion, freedom, and sexual liberation comes to mind. But what happens when an organization known for leading with safety and freedom for queer communities is being penalized for the very same values and identity they were founded upon? This troubling pattern is becoming increasingly familiar with LGBTQ+ organizations worldwide.

Deviant Events, a Black- and Brown-led queer nightlife and cultural platform, is among a growing number of LGBTQ+ organizations whose accounts have been banned or restricted by Meta.

As the nation’s leading Black queer circuit party experience, Deviant is fighting to reclaim its digital presence as fears mount over systemic censorship and discriminatory moderation that continue to silence queer communities online.

Across the globe, many queer and reproductive health groups have reported a growing wave of account suspensions and content removals on Meta-owned platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. The platforms undoubtedly serve as essential tools for community outreach, event promotion, and public education, and losing access to them can severely hinder an organization’s capability to connect with and serve its audience. 

Meta has reportedly restricted or removed a significant number of accounts related to queer advocacy, reproductive health organizations, and abortion access providers affecting more than 50 organizations worldwide. 

According to reporting by LGBTQ+ advocacy groups and digital rights organizations, these enforcement actions have disproportionately impacted Black, Brown, trans, and queer led initiatives, particularly those outspoken on racial injustice, gender liberation, and community accountability.

Amid blatant political attacks against LGBTQ+ affirming initiatives nationwide, community leaders warn that digital moderation is often inconsistently applied with little to no transparency or meaningful recourse for affected organizations. 

One such organization is Deviant Events (@DeviantEvents), a Black and Brown led queer nightlife and cultural platform known for its creative, boundary pushing brand. Despite maintaining compliance with Meta’s published Community Standards, Deviant Events was suspended from both Instagram and Facebook. 

Shortly thereafter, its affiliated non-profit, CounterCulture (@_counter_culture), a family friendly organization focused on social responsibility, arts, and community programming was also removed from Meta’s platforms. 

Due to these unexpected suspensions, a temporary account was created, but was subsequently removed as well. At this time, Deviant’s owners are utilizing their personal accounts as temporary proxy channels to promote Deviant Events. 

These suspensions ultimately erased years of community building work, silencing messaging centered on queer liberation, harm reduction, and collective care. For organizations that rely on social media as their primary means of communication, such actions can have immediate and lasting consequences.

In response, Deviant Events’ COO Montell Stansberry is actively appealing these account suspensions and seeking legal counsel to combat these online restrictions by Meta. While they to remedy these regulations, Deviant is exploring long term solutions for the future. Among these efforts is the early development of a community-owned social media platform designed to provide a safer, more accountable digital space for Black queer communities, one that is free from obscure moderation practices and indiscriminate enforcement. 

“Queer people have always had to build our own institutions when existing systems failed us,” Stansberry tells Gaye Magazine.

“This moment is no different…except now, the battleground includes digital space.” 

Despite these challenges, Deviant’s work continues offline. The dance floor revolution still lives on with two upcoming signature events: 

• MLK Weekend – Atlanta | January 17 
• Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend – Washington, DC | January 18 

As Deviant trails forward in reclaiming its digital presence and reimagining what queer-centered platforms can look like, the organization remains committed to creating spaces where Black and Brown queer communities can gather, celebrate, and organize without censorship or erasure. 

Visit deviant.live and reach out to DeviantEventsDC@gmail.com to stay up to date on upcoming events, and most importantly attending their events.

No claims of wrongdoing by Meta are asserted, only documented impact and response.