Red Equal Sign
Added 11 years ago by Brad • Updated 9 months ago by Brad
| Navigation |
| Overview • Background • Notable Developments • Search Interest • External References • |
Type: Campaign
Tags: facebook lgbt campaign gay rights profile photo court legislation
Additional References: Wikipedia
Overview
Red Equal Sign is a banner image of an equality sign based on the official logo of The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest LGBT equality-rights advocacy and lobbying group in the United States. In March 2013, more than 10 million Facebook and Twitter users replaced their profile avatars with the logo in support of same-sex marriage.
Background
On March 25th, 2013, the day before the beginning of the United States Supreme Court's deliberation of California's same-sex marriage ban known as Proposition 8, the LGBT rights advocacy group Human Rights Campaign[1] posted a Facebook status update urging its followers to change their Facebook profiles to its official "equal sign" logo in pink and red color scheme. In less than 24 hours, the post garnered more than 16,900 likes and 60,000 shares.
Notable Developments
Online Reaction
Human Rights Campaign's new profile photo quickly spread across the social networking site, reaching more than 9 million people and 77,000 shares directly from the group's Facebook page. In the following hours, several celebrities and public figures picked up on the trend by switching their profile photos on Facebook and Twitter, from actor George Takei and singer Lance Bass to Maryland governor Martin O'Malley and at least 13 United States Congress members.
News Media Coverage
By early morning on March 26th, the Facebook profile trend had been picked up by Mashable[2], TIME Magazine[3], ABC[7], MSNBC[5] and CNN,[4] not to mention its spread across other social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. In contrast, Vice published a column titled "The Red Marriage Equality Sign on Your Facebook Profile is Completely Useless,"[6] expressing skepticism towards the trend as "just another form of passive activism that isn't advancing the cause."
Facebook Analysis
On March 29th, Facebook data scientist Eytan Bakshy[9] reported 2.7 million users on the site changed their profiles on Tuesday, March 26th, a 120% increase from the Tuesday prior. Many of these updates occurred after 1 PM EST, when the Human Rights Campaign made their first status update about the profile photos. Bakshy also found users close to 30 years old had the greatest increase in photo changes, with 3.5% of all 30-year-old Facebook users switching out their profile photo for a Red Equal Sign variant. Additionally, in the United States, counties hosting college towns saw larger amounts of support than counties hosting large cities including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City (shown below).
Notable Derivatives
Search Interest
External References
[1] Facebook – Human Rights Campaign
[2] Mashable – Facebook Turns Red as SCOTUS Marriage Equality Hearings Begin
[3] TIME Magazine – What Is the Red Equal Sign All Over Facebook and Twitter?
[4] CNN – Emblazoned in red, same-sex marriage dominates social media
[5] MSNBC – Seeing Red: Human Rights Campaign’s marriage equality logo goes viral
[6] Vice – THE RED MARRIAGE EQUALITY SIGN ON YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE IS COMPLETELY USELESS
[7] ABC – What’s That Red Equal-Sign on Facebook All About?
[8] Human Rights Campaign – Sign the Majority Opinion as the Supreme Court hears arguments!
[9] Facebook – Eytan Bakshy: Showing Support for Marriage Equality on Facebook
Entry Editors ( 5 )
Related Entries ( 3 )
-
Kim Davis Marriage License Controversy
-
Supreme Court Gay Marriage Ruling
-
Same Sex Marriage Just Won't Fly
Recent Images ( 233 )
-
Red Equal Signs Using Musical Notes
-
Arizona equal sign
-
Cheers for Equality
-
Collage of Equality supporters
-
Charlie Brown Equality
-
Original and Viral version
-
Assassin’s Creed for Marriage Equality pt.2
-
Assassin’s Creed for Marriage Equality pt.1
-
Lego™ for Marriage Equality
-
Dunkin’ Donuts® for Marriage Equality
-
Hyatt® FOR Marriage Equality
-
Absolut® for Marriage Equality
Comments ( 88 )
Before any of you guys say "This isn't a meme", look at what it says for how it is categorized.
EVENT.
This is classified under EVENT.
**inb4 I start seeing people on the Facebook comments with this as their profile picture.
Anyone remember the Kony 2012 poster everyone was just mindlessly using while it was poopular?
This is kind of like that, but for something we actually care about.
I swear if the U.S.Supreme Court does not support the gay rights supporters and upholds Prop 8, then I don't know what's wrong with this country.
If marriage is so sacred, why is there divorce?
Wow, a lot of original posters are getting married.
I really hope people don't think that Supreme Court gives two fucks about public opinion because from what i've seen on internet the past couple of days, it seems a lot of people do think that. But here's the good news for all you supporters, the SCOTUS ruled that marriage is a fundamental right, which means this law is subject to strict scrutiny, which means that California needs to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that not allowing gay people to get married serves an extremely important government interest, i personally think that'll be difficult to do but lets see what the courts think! We'll see where it goes. Case law is so much fun :3!
+1 Confirm this mother fucker
You got my support.
Ugh…more Facebook slacktivism.
@wezli333
It's a court case; it's pretty much all we can do.
@Patrick Bateman
Holy shit, something we agree on.
@Daruqe
Yeah, I'm sure after SCOTUS takes a recess to check Facebook and sees how many people went through all the trouble of changing their profile picture, it'll swing the vote to a 9-0 decision.
I wore red today and I didn't even know about this. Spooky.
(Atuor's Nose: I have no stance on the issue, since it does not affect me, though I do believe that everyone has the right to equality. For the record, if this comment starts a flame war I'm keeping out of it.)
I've always been a huge supporter of LGBT, but personally I think this is pretty stupid, and honestly, so do a lot of my gay friends; not one of them has changed their profile picture because they know it won't do anything. Right now, they're just sitting back biting their nails hoping for a good outcome; this really means something to them, but a change in profile photo won't do anything. I think it's just another opportunity on the internet for people to take something that has nothing to do with themselves just to make it about them. "HEY! LOOK AT ME!" None of these people have probably defended gay rights IRL. Shame that civil rights movements are reduced to fads.
If homosexual marraige is upheld, then I'm going to start pushing for polygamy. Heck, for that matter I'll probably start pushing for the marraige age to be 10 or something like that.
@wezli333
I'm just saying you can't call it "slacktivism," 'cause there's nothing else we can do.
Shouldn't the Human Right's Campaign's logo (a yellow equal sign on a blue background) count as a precursor to the pink on red one?
It's all over tumblr, only better of course haha. If I hadn't disabled my facebook, I'd change it to this in a heartbeat. I'm all for equality. The fact that there's even losers who went out of their way to make a blue or INequality pic just shows how pathetic some people will be to keep their stupidity alive.
First World Problems:
All my friends have a red equal sign as a profile.
Can no longer tell the difference between them by picture in a conversation.
Just one gay person weighing in on the event.
Will this result in marriage equality? No.
Is this slacktivism? Yes.
Do I judge others as bigots for not participating or for opposing it on fad-related grounds? No.
Will all of these people suddenly hit the streets to campaign or join local GSA's? No.
But seeing all the red on facebook reminds me and others that we have friends and allies that support equality and see my identity as real and important in the eyes of the law.
The exposure to others' views may even influence future voters and contribute to social change on the issue. It takes three seconds to change a profile picture.
@wezli333
I am proud to defend against injustice anywhere, as long as it doesn't involve more than sharing a video or changing my profile picture.
@Daruqe
Or people could just not embarrass themselves by circle-jerking all over the internet. "Oh hey guys, look at me! I agree with this thing everyone I know also agrees with! Aren't I brave for speaking up like this?"
Whenever a bunch of narcissists literally raise a finger to show the world just how much they care about an already popular cause with no real effort expended or risk endured on their part, it is slacktivism.
I am for opposite-sex marriage, does that make me a bad person?
Hell, everyone has opinions, I guess I manage to differ
@Jack
I've got nothing against Polygamy
Question: What does the red division sign and the red greater than symbol mean? I know the blue not equal symbol means you're opposed to same sex marriage.
UGH
facebook comments….always so happy to jump on the band wagon.
dont get me wrong, i will happily support this but as usual the facebook comments sound like people trying to convert someone to a religon
just like kony and amanda todd. people think they are doing something when they are not.
@Chowz: I think the red greater than symbol means the user thinks their opinion is better or that LGBT people are better. Or it could just be someone being cheeky and using different signs with the same color scheme.
I personally am not annoyed by people changing their avatars to the red equal sign because really what harm does it do? It certainly won't change anything in this specific case, but I think it at least is important to not be afraid to state an opinion.
@Chowz The LA Times says the greater than sign means that inequality will still exist if the California ban is repealed. The division sign may mean that there is a divide between same sex and opposite sex couples or marriages but could support either side? A lot of these are unclear…
I'd do it if I lived in the U.S., but I don't. In any case, I'm all in favor of gay rights, and I love internet activism. I mean, it's 3am and I'm having my insomnia crisis, why not give my support to something happening on the other side of the globe? By the way, my friends here are all asleep right now. As I should be as well. Dammit.
Oh boy, 9gag's gonna be butthurt about that.
@wezli333
You can throw around buzz-words like "circle-jerk" and "slacktivism" all you want, but it's just rhetoric. It's not supposed to affect any sort of change, it's a small gesture from a bunch of people to show the LGBT community that they have our support, and it's a way for a the culture of LGBT allies (i.e. sane people) to express our identity.
And, unfortunately, not everyone agrees, otherwise this wouldn't be an issue. The time has come for the ideas of those who disagree to be shoved away forever. While changing a Facebook profile expends little effort, the effect is a mass of people standing in defiance in the name of equality. Such is a force to be reckoned with, and among other things, will show the people who disagree that their time is over.
@Daruqe
In the first paragraph you say this isn't going to affect any change, and then in the second you say this is going to change people's minds. Which is it?
The only people who are going to see it are your Facebook friends, who probably are well-acquainted with your views on sexual equality in the first place. Plus, statistically speaking, the vast majority of them are going to share views fairly similar to your own. Nobody is reaching out to anyone, its completely insular and self-congratulatory.
Resisting the urge to change this to my profile picture……
Greetings, my friends. I have been sent back in time from the year 2030 in order to prevent this Proposition from being passed. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember, my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknown, the mysterious, the unexplainable. That is why you are here. And now, for the first time, we are bringing to you the full story of what happened on that fateful day. We are giving you all the evidence, based only on the secret testimonies of the miserable souls who survived this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, the places, my friend, we cannot keep this a secret any longer. Let us punish the guilty. Let us reward the innocent. My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts about grave robbers from outer spa-
Ohh, this is Proposition 8 from California, not Proposition 9 from Outer Space
In that case, carry on and good luck with Marital Equality.
@wezli333
I meant it won't have any impact on the court decision.
I have over 100 Facebook friends and I hardly know any of them. Facebook isn't a bubble. I'm sure a lot of my extended family isn't too hyped up on this.
And you know what's worse than slacktivism? Fucking cynics who just sit on the sidelines and cry boo on everything. That's fucking toxic.
oh THATS what that means
sigh
This again…
Who else remembers that thing a while back where everyone was changing their profile pictures to Cartoon Characters to "Raise awareness of child abuse?"
Or how about Cony 2012?
Viral marketing CAN work, but most people don't know how to use it. The SOPA/PIPA protest where Google and Wikipedia went down is a good example of this. Mark my words, no matter how many people change their profile pics to whatever the red mathematical symbol of the week is, it won't mean a damn thing unless people actually go out there and DO SOMETHING!
The problem isn't awareness, it's that the wrong people are in power. change the world by changing your leaders, learn, campaign, vote, send a letter to your congressman or something! or you could change your profile picture… I'm sure that helps too.
Brace yourselves, view-related comments are coming.
(Yeah, this has – temporarily, of course – overtaken you-know-what for the most daily views)
Hey government, GET YOUR FILTHY PAWS OUT OF MARRIAGE! No marriage licenses, no legislating, no more deciding who can and can't marry, GET OUT! You have no authority here. NONE. Your job is to defend our right to marry whomever we want, not make that decision for us.
@Majora's Mare: Thing is, pretty much everyone is against child abuse and child soldiers, so there's not much to discuss. Gay marriage (and gay acceptance in general) is still a rather controversial issue, even though it really shouldn't be. If people against it and/or haven't really thought about it see a ton of people supporting it on their friends list, it may make them question their stance and open up a dialogue about it. It's not like this is harming anyone, and if even one or two people change their mind to support equality as a result of this, I think it's worth it.
The Supreme Court references Facebook when making all of its big decisions.
I wholly support marriage equality, but I don't think my Facebook profile picture is some huge statement. If you actually supported something, you wouldn't need to make it your Facebook profile picture for other people to know. They would've known already.
All this facebook cancer
I'm surprised Rush Limbaugh hasn't already talked about this and compared the red color to communism.
To both sides really.
This is like the cancerous kony 2012 crap…
I'm not against gay marriage and the cause is good and all, but stop spaming!
Not only spam but all the swagfags and shitty pages on facebook use this to get likes.
most of facebook people is like: "supporting gay marriage is cool guise! look at my red equal profile pic huehue. AND IF YOU DON'T JOIN IN THE BANDWAGON THEN YOU ARE A FUCKING HOMOPHOBIC LITTLE SHIT"
@Twee
I see your point, and it is an angle I hadn't considered. But in my experience, I've found that the people who think this way do so because they get it hammered into their brain every second of every day that they're right. They turn on the news, the news anchors talk about Gay rights and roll their eyes; they have "more important" things to talk about! They already see Facebook, Twitter and social media as a whole as 'the young liberals who don't know what they're talking about,' they'll dismiss this as quickly as they would a claim that videogames don't cause violence. These people see what they want to see, and it sucks, but they Just. Don't. Get. It. You could bring up as many points for the positive for gay rights as you can think of, and they'll just pull something out of thin air to "prove you wrong."
I don't want to be all doom and gloom, but that's the way it looks from where I'm standing.
What we REALLY need, is a large scale political regime change, but since that's not likely I think a good place to start would be to write your congressmen and senators telling them your opinions. Imagine the senator from Texas walking into his office and seeing A THOUSAND ENVELOPES on this desk! Now imagine he sees that every day he walks into his office. Put the problem right in front of them! THEN they might start listening.
Now if you'll excuse me, this soapbox is giving me vertigo…
I'm gay and I don't fucking care about this event. Reminds me Kony 2012.
My thoughts when I notice all those Facebook accounts with equal signs:
Those Facebook comments.
Just let gays marry, they'll soon see that marriage is bullshit after a while anyways. Maybe gay marriages will last a little longer than a straight marriage but just you wait, there'll be a select few that'll stick together till they die but the rest will be just like straight people: Divorced after a few years.
Then they'll realize the ideal relationship is just plain old dating or being fuck buddies.
I mean hell I don't even see why letting gay people get married is that big of a deal anymore, we have the Bachelor and Bachelorette and shows like Who wants to marry a millionaire, some guy married a video game character on his DS in Japan and some guy is talking about marrying a pony. Marriage means jack shit these days!
You misunderstood--I didn't change my profile picture because I thought Congress would give a damn about gay rights. I changed my Facebook profile picture because I want everyone who knows me to know I, for one, support gay rights.
I'm not going to pretend that I know anything about campaigns or sociology. All I'm going to say is that I'm glad that people are publicly declaring that they support marriage equality. Quite a step up from 60 years ago when kids in schools were taught that gay people were pedophiles in videos like the one at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijbovskICjk
This has officially surpassed ponies as the most popular image gallery.
Isn't it strange that there is this gay marriage protest at the exact same time when there is an anti-drone protest and people only know about the first one? It's almost like you dumb ignorant children are being brainwashed. Silly isn't it?
@ bbhaver
anti-drone what?
@Durvarowe
…Other Galleries have done that before
Didn't they do this already? Then again FB fads have existed for a while…
Until the US government try to take my yaoi and yuri doujin collection from me, I frankly don't care about this.
@bbhaver
I don't think it's a matter of stupidity as laziness. People want to feel involved, but not have to do anything. Informing people about air raid violence is too complicated for these people, so they just follow a well-known trend for ease.
It's at this point that the problem should have already been solved. When even the average couch potato agrees something should be done, it should have been done long ago.
Meh, who cares? Supporting through facebook is nice but ultimately means little and if someone doesn’t bother to change their pic it doesn’t mean anything. And on the other side who cares if they join in some “bandwagon”; it may not do much but raise some awareness but it’s better than nothing I guess. Same with with Kony 2012 thing: something else I never bothered with myself but I never really got the hate for these facebook fads. Being a Facebook-contrarian just to rage against the majority doesn’t make ya cool.
@Zetsumei von Kiddo
Wow really? We get it. You're an anime fanboy. Tell us when it relates to the subject.
Or dont. i dont give a crap.
@Zetsumei Von Kiddo
I wish I can give you more thumbs up. Anime haterz thumbed your comment down.
Post red equal signs to show support for OP.
inb4 people post ponies for no rea- oh it's already done? Well crap
… Alright, I'm going to go ahead and ask this question, because it's been on my tits for a while and I'm starting to get bugged by it.
Can someone please tell me exactly what the big deal with this is, on either side of the issue? In places where domestic unions don't share equal rights with traditionally married couples, I can understand. Not being able to adopt children just because you're two dudes sucks ass. But, as far as I can tell, that's not really what the big push here is.
The big push here seems to be over one line of government text being changed from 'union' to 'marriage'… and I just can't get why people are getting so fucking upset over it, on either side.
Do social conservatives think this means that government SWAT teams are going to bust into churches and force pastors to marry gay couples? Cause for those SoCons reading this, that's not what's going to happen. It's just government bureaucratic jargon.
And for gay marriage supporters. I can't tell if some believe that this will force churches to marry them or if they're fine with church folks, by and large, not marrying them and are just fighting for the change in bureaucratic jargon.
" In places where domestic unions don’t share equal rights with traditionally married couples, I can understand. Not being able to adopt children just because you’re two dudes sucks ass. But, as far as I can tell, that’s not really what the big push here is."
No, it is. The whole reason this got started was because a woman sued the state after she was left in tons of debt following the death of her partner. If she has been married normally, it wouldn't have happened.
cont.
If so… why? Is it worth the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been poured into this effort? Is it worth the fucking man hours that hundreds of thousands of people have poured into this? All the time, money, tears and sweat that've gone into this could've gone to anything else. Literally, ANYTHING ELSE. Imagine all the fucking homeless shelters, soup kitchens, houses for humanity or other programs that could've been helped with all this money and attention?
Or Hell, if you're dead-set on doing something for the LGBT community, then all this money and effort could've gone to helping gays and lesbians in places like the Middle East and North Africa. They're in the shitter compared to American LGBTs. Some money to fight for their rights, to empower organization to represent them or just for human rights purposes in general could go a long way.
I guess what I'm asking is just what the fuck makes one line of government text a more worthwhile cause, for SoCons or Gay Marriage advocates, than literally any other cause on planet Earth dealing with actual human suffering?
How exactly does one ponify 2 pink bars on a red background?
Oh KYM, you never cease to suprise me.
@Ragnarok
It's not about marriage, it's about the legal rights that inevitably come with marriage. Gay couples do not have the same inheritance, hospital visiting rights, property rights, tax rights, etc. that "married" couples enjoy.
For everyone propping up the strawman argument that all these people are slacktavists who think this is a popularity vote for the Supreme Court, here's another opinion.
"But it unquestionably felt nice to see so many red squares on my screen every time I checked Facebook today. Probably not for any “rational” reason. It just felt nice to know that all these people are paying attention to what’s going on, that they care about what the Supreme Court decides and they care in the direction of equality." (transcribed from http://freethoughtblogs.com/brutereason/2013/03/26/im-going-to-rant-about-those-little-equal-sign-facebook-profile-pics-now/)
There is a difference between doing very little and doing nothing.
Yeah, the difference being that doing nothing doesn't impede actual activist causes as much as slacktivism does.
inb4 confirm because Prop 8 and DOMA are dead
I think the slacktivists need to consider the very real possibility that the SCOTUS overturned DOMA and Prop 8 completely based on legal grounds before they start thinking sitting around on Facebook somehow constitutes actually helping.
Yeah, the difference being that doing nothing doesn't impede actual activist causes as much as slacktivism does.
Mfw when reading the comments
Where's the one that looks like a Dalek and says "EXTERMINATE THE HATE!"?
Is there a page for the not-red equal sign that means the exact same thing, but was from the Bush administration? Like the blue and gold bumper sticker that I had on my car back in 2006?
Of course Texas and most of the midwest is mostly white… I feel really bad for the minority of the smart people who live in these places with rednecks as far as the eye can see.
" In places where domestic unions don’t share equal rights with traditionally married couples, I can understand. Not being able to adopt children just because you’re two dudes sucks ass. But, as far as I can tell, that’s not really what the big push here is."
No, it is. The whole reason this got started was because a woman sued the state after she was left in tons of debt following the death of her partner. If she has been married normally, it wouldn't have happened.
supporting gay and other strange people is hard work. you sometimes have to change your picture on website. sometimes they make you wear a shirt, or button. but in the end, its all worth it to know your changing America.
lol ,
i dont care about this gay marrige issue, but they should make an election instead of protesting
My thoughts: Gay Marriage: I honesty don't give a fuck.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ColonCancer
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ColonCancer
This is literally samefaggotry
Sorry, but you must activate your account to post a comment.