“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family,” “In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than they once were.” — Justice Anthony Kennedy
Same-sex marriages was legalized on Friday, 26 June, at a Supreme Court ruling. The White House was lit up in colors of the rainbow to commemorate this history-in-making decision of a liberal state. The ruling caused a massive spurt of vibrancy on the internet everywhere.
Facebook adds the new rainbow filter for profile pictures in celebration of the LGBTQ pride. You get to have your profile picture superimposed with rainbow bars by clicking here to access the thoughtful Facebook initiative.
Twitter automatically adds a rainbow heart when you #LoveWins. In hindsight, I thought it was a new emoji released by WhatsApp. When I found out it wasn’t, I also thought of copying only the heart and pasting on my tweet but that didn’t work too.
On Instagram, the hashtag #LoveWins was hijacked with beautiful selfies of acceptance and celebration. Photos of same-sex couples made up the majority, next to the list of selfies laden with rainbow filters.
Many websites, companies and artistes are coming up with their own revamped logo and efforts in support of the ruling – seems like they have prepared it for a few days now; the effect of all these rainbow logos and shoots certainly made Twitter a lot more colorful than from its usual somber, undertones.
Some made use of the rainbow trend for their own marketing efforts – cheeky, clever and will certainly gain from their updated, open marketing strategy.
Yahoo’s PR went viral and was praised by many on social media. We are just wondering if Bobby Mcmillian has deactivated his account just yet…
In the meantime, The Straits Times received flak in the lack of coverage of the legalization of same-sex marriage in USA on Twitter. Many lamented on the censorship of LGBT-issues in local media outlets. Perhaps Singapore is not ready to be on the same pedestal in terms of socio-political challenges.
Writer: Leong Chee Sheng Images: Screenshots, others as linked