Facebook has apologized for blocking advertisements featuring LGBT content, but questions remain about how the social media giant deals with the issue of identity.

According to The Washington Post, Facebook targeted dozens of advertisements with LGBT content, saying that they were “political” and that the organizations or individuals who posted the ads needed to register as political entities with Facebook. Facebook added stricter requirements for political ads in response to the revelation that Russian-state actors had used the platform's ad network to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.

Ads blocked included a gay fairy tale cabaret in Las Vegas, a social group for gay men who speak Spanish and a list of housing options for LGBT seniors by a nonprofit in Texas.

David Kilmnick, head of the LGBT Network in Long Island, said that Facebook had blocked about 15 of his organization's advertisements. Facebook rejects ads from the group for events such as the Long Island Pride Parade, a beach concert and an LGBT youth prom it helps organize.

“We were completely targeted simply because we were LGBT,” Kilmnick said, “for what we're advertising – ads that promote our programs that help support the community and celebrate pride. There's nothing political about that.”

Thomas Garguillo, a retiree who manages a Facebook page dedicated to the history of the Stonewall Inn, a national landmark, called Facebook's policy of blocking such ads “ludicrous” and “Orwellian.”

When he asked Facebook why his ads were being rejected, he was told that the company considers LGBT to “fall under the category of civil rights which is a political topic.” “You would need to be authorized to run ads with this content,” a Facebook employee told him.

Facebook apologized, saying that it does not view LGBT content as political.

“The ones that were incorrectly labeled have been removed from the archive and we apologize for the error,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. “We do not consider all ads that relate to LGBT under this policy, but rather only those that advocate for various policies or political positions, which several of these ads do.”

“Though Facebook has taken pains to appear neutral, the censorship of LGBT ads, however inadvertent, points to the company’s difficulty in finding a middle ground in a tense national climate where policy increasingly hinges on fundamental questions about race and identity,” The Post wrote.