You may have seen it cropping up in your Facebook news feed, an in-your-face fire-engine red block with two horizontal lines.
Its the latest symbol of marriage equality, one launched by the Human Rights Campaign, “the nation’s largest advocacy group for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities.”
They are asking for people to wear red and attend Tuesday’s Supreme Court hearings on Prop 8 and DOMA. On Tuesday the Court takes up California’s Proposition 8 which bans the same-sex marriage. Wednesday, the Court turns to the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, where Congress and Clinton legally defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Not in DC? No problem, “wear red” by changing your avatar for two days.
The campaign to change avatars got a big boost when George Takei changed his Facebook profile Tuesday morning. As of this writing, the Human Rights Campaign avatar has almost 4,000 likes and almost 17,000 shares.
Want to join the movement? You can download the the Human Rights Campaign avatar. Tell your friends (by whatever means) the full story. (Hey, link here!) And be sure to add hashtags like #Equality, #UnitedforMarriage or #SupremeCourt.
This icon is intended to raise awareness Right Now. It’s not intended to be the long-term symbol for the movement. An early effort to raise awareness through symbolism started in 2008 with the “white knot.”
Want to go whole hog? There are also Facebook and Twitter banners available for download.
Photo Credits
Avatar from David Hoang; Facebook banner from Human Rights Campaign.
Additional downloads on Facebook
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com