Thoughts On The "Red Facebook Explosion"

An interesting phenomenon happened on Facebook recently that thoroughly caught my attention. Anyone who logged on to the social networking outlook on Tuesday, March 26th and Wednesday, March 27th would have seen it. Thousands of profile pictures changed to this red and pink equals sign, painting everyone’s Newsfeeds in a sea of red.

The image being used was a modification of the logo for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC is an advocacy group for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender individuals), typically a yellow equals sign with a navy background. This trend was inspired because on March 26th and 27th the U.S. Supreme Court heard cases regarding the constitutionality of Proposition 8—the California ban on same-gender marriage—and DOMA—officially “Defense of Marriage Act,” which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-gender marriages as marriage, thereby prohibiting the federal government from granting them the 1,100 or so federal benefits for married couples regardless of which state they live in.

Now, I am well privy to the type of groundswell movements that often take place on social networks. Granted, most of the time it goes something like this: my Facebook Newsfeed is suddenly swarmed with “GO BIG RED!!” statuses, and I instantly know the Nebraska Cornhuskers are playing. But this was much bigger than that, because EVERYONE—coast to coast—would have seen it.

I had a few thoughts on the event:

1) The amount of support was inspiring. As a fellow gay friend of mine posted on his Facebook wall, I know changing your profile picture has little affect on the Supreme Court’s decision; but for all of us who are ACTUALLY directly affected by these decisions, that simple act means A LOT.

Every LGBTQ ally who stepped up and became involved reminded me of how big of a supporting community I have. And I have to admit: at one point, I became choked up by all the love I was receiving when I was scrolling through my Facebook Newsfeed and could not find a single profile picture that was NOT a red equals sign.

I would personally just like to say to everyone who participated, who stepped up and put themselves out there supporting us: Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

2) I was also interested by the many variations of the red equals sign that crept up as profile pictures. It was even great to see how companies created some of their own images. All in all, I think my favorite was the red equals sign made out of strips of bacon.

I also enjoyed reading most of the memes that popped up. And I am always delighted to read some of the posters LGBTQ advocates make for protests and rallies they attend. Most of them tend to be clever and simple, but profound. Out of these posts, I really liked the sign that said “Don’t mess with Dumbledore’s rights”—even though it must be said that Dumbledore (Harry Potter reference) is actually British, and therefore is not at all affected by a U.S. Supreme Court decision. Nevertheless, I enjoyed them all…

3) …except for the few that popped up that were anti-supportive. I was grateful that I did not see too many of them, but even those few I did see really spoiled the moment. The thing about it is: all those memes about marriage being only between a man and a woman quoted either God or scripture. Now, I am a religious man, but I do NOT think religion should be factored into Supreme Court decisions.

The purpose of the U.S. Supreme Court is to decide whether or not the Federal and state governments of the United States are abiding by the U.S. Constitution, not the Bible. Regardless of whether or not I disagree with those statements—which, by the way, I whole-heartedly do—I was irritated because they were inappropriate and irrelevant for the situation at hand. These cases where about the democratic process, not the religion of a portion of the American people.

But all in all, I was very pleased on the day. And I remain hopeful that when the Supreme Court makes its decision (sometime in June 2013, for anyone who is wondering), they will rule in favor of my rights as an American citizen.