Facebookers Standup for Marriage Equality

A simple red logo has taken over Facebook and has become the symbol of support for marriage equality. Last week  the Supreme Court heard two landmark cases marriage equality cases. Rick, Terry and I joined over 2 million Facebookers in  changing our profile photos to the to the red HRC logo to show our support in a very visual way.

Terry told me the story about former HRC Executive Director, Elizabeth Birch proposing the re-branding of HRC with a new logo. Although there was some uncertainty about the yellow equal sign on blue background, the logo was adopted. So simple and so direct – EQUAL – the logo was a success becoming internationally recognized. Now it has color morphed into pink on red and has become the iconic national symbol of support of marriage equality.

To map the potential level of support for marriage equality on Facebook, the Facebook Data Science Team examined how many U.S. users changed their profile photos. Eytan Bakshy, posted the data analysis in a note titled Showing Support for Marriage Equality on Facebook. I love his closing remark:

For a long time, when people stood up for a cause and weren’t all physically standing shoulder to shoulder, the size of their impact wasn’t immediately apparent. But today, we can see the spread of an idea online in greater detail than ever before. That’s data well worth finding.

The map below is from the post and shows estimated increase in profile changes by counties. A deep red can be “thought to have greater turnout as a result of the HRC equals campaign.” I think the map looks like a National Valentine’s Day card with it’s pink to red coloration.

Some bloggers have said that they doubt the Facebook response has influenced the Supreme Court members or members of Congress. Hmm…I wonder if the corporations that spend millions on their Facebook advertising campaigns would agree that Facebook doesn’t influence their customers.

Even the most adamant naysayer, would have to admit that Facebook develops brand recognition. We all know that we tend to buy or support familiar “brands” and recommend them to our friends. What would be a better thing to recommend to our friends than the freedom to marry who we love for every American?

Ashley Austrew in her blog post on Zebra Garden titled simply Stand Up reminds us that this is goes even deeper than love:

… It is about so much more than love. It’s about humanity. I don’t need to know anything about you–least of all the gender of the person you’ve decided to spend your life with–in order to know that I have respect for the divinely human spirit that dwells within you.

It’s hard to top that statement, but this video featuring Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announcing her support of marriage equality is spot on too:

Congratulations are in order to HRC for launching and managing this viral campaign:

I continue to be so proud of the professionalism, passion, and thoroughness of HRC’s fight for marriage equality be it in the courts, legislatures, or ballet boxes. – Terry Bean

To quote Rick, “All in all…a pretty damn great week for equal rights.”  I have to agree with him!