The latest social media trend is causing the nation to see red — literally.

On March 26, the day the U.S. Supreme Court hearings on the historical court cases of same-sex marriage began, social media enthusiasts across the United States virtually banded together by changing their Facebook profile pictures to the Human Rights Campaign symbol: a red equal sign.

“I remember, I woke up and I went on Facebook and saw all these red equal signs, and I was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, what is happening?’” said Raul Ramos, a sophomore advertising major. “My whole Facebook feed was equal signs everywhere.”

Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard the initial arguments of two human rights court cases: Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Proposition 8 is a California state constitutional amendment that was passed in 2008 restricting same-sex marriage.

DOMA, signed into law in 1996, recognizes that only traditional, opposite-sex marriage is legally eligible for marriage benefits, including Social Security and insurance benefits.

After learning the significance of the social media movement, Ramos, who identifies as gay and is the public relations director of Pride Union, immediately joined his peers and changed his Facebook profile picture to a red equal sign, signifying he supports equal marriage rights for all citizens, including those who identify as part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.

However, 20 minutes later, he changed his profile picture again, this time to a “greater than” mathematical symbol, a sign he believes holds a more substantial meaning for the rights of the LGBTQ community.

“To me, the equal sign that is supported by the Equal Rights Campaign sort of signifies that once we get marriage equality, there’s nothing else to fight for,” Ramos said. “And that’s not necessarily the case.”

Marriage equality is currently at the forefront of a number of issues the LGBTQ community is fighting for while pushing for attaining equal rights for people who identify as straight, Ramos said. Other issues include job discrimination and health insurance.

As those in the Supreme Court debate on marriage equality, which gained momentum in the days after its initial media spotlight, Facebook users’ participation in the social media movement remained constant, but with an added twist.

Facebook profilers began altering the symbol, almost as if in competition to see who could come up with the cleverest adaptation.

The two bars of the equal sign have been changed into strips of bacon, unicorns, dog bones, mustaches and pairs of pants. Other variations show Sesame Street muppets Bert and Ernie, rumored to be gay, smiling and waving in front of the original symbol. One Facebook user even changed his profile picture to a layered slice of red velvet cake with frosting in the middle.

Still others kept the original red equal sign as their profile picture to exemplify continued support of marriage equality.

What started as a simple gesture of support for the cause turned into much more, and snowballed into a phenomenon.

Facebook released statistics that show a dramatic jump in users who changed their profile pictures in the days after the Supreme Court began hearings for marriage equality, according to a March 29 article by The Huffington Post. The article states, “2.7 million more people changed their profile pictures on Tuesday, March 26, compared to the previous Tuesday.”

Although Facebook cannot pinpoint what exactly the millions of new profile pictures looked like, The Huffington Post wrote, “the red equal sign was driving the bump” in the sharp increase in data.

But not all same-sex marriage supporters participated in the social media movement. Some failed to see a point in doing so because a simple gesture made on Facebook isn’t going to sway the Supreme Court’s ultimate decision.

Though graduate public relations student Deanna Payson said in an email, “Showing your support is important regardless.”

As founder and co-chair of “Life Gets Better Together,” an annual conference held on campus to advocate for embracing LGBTQ youth in the Syracuse community, Payson said she is constantly looking for ways to help end LGBTQ-based hatred and bullying. Changing her profile picture to the red equal sign was the newest way to support the cause.

Payson, who identifies as straight and is engaged to be married in June, said she wants everyone to experience the happiness that comes with marriage, regardless of whether a person identifies as straight or within the LGBTQ spectrum.

“Some argue that calling it ‘marriage’ goes against the traditional/religious definition of the word, but I argue that ‘marriage’ has been branded to mean a long-term commitment by two people to walk through life together,” she said.

Regardless if the Supreme Court rules in favor of same-sex marriage, Ramos said he is glad the Proposition 8 and DOMA court cases are drawing so much attention from the media, and is also happy about the social media movement.

But he does not want people to jump on the bandwagon without fully understanding what it means. For example, just because someone’s best friend is gay, they automatically support gay marriage.

“Do they really understand what they’re supporting and do they really understand my struggle and what the queer struggle is all about?” Ramos said.

He believes it is important to incorporate more education about the LGBTQ community in the classroom setting, and not only in LGBTQ and women and gender studies classes.

Despite this, Ramos said he appreciates his friends changing their Facebook profile pictures to red equal signs.

Said Ramos: “It was something that felt very empowering to know that people were supportive of marriage equality, and I felt supported because of that. There were even people who I didn’t expect to support marriage equality to change their profile picture. I was like ‘Wow, props to you, I did not think you were like that, but thank you.’”

Published on April 1, 2013 at 1:01 am

Contact Kristin: klross01@syr.edu | @kriskross22