Woohoo! The Supreme Court just ruled that gay marriage bans are unconstitutional, meaning every state now must both allow same-sex marriages and acknowledge same-sex marriages performed in other states. The decision, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy and passed with a 5 (Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan) to 4 (Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and John Roberts) vote, makes it clear that the court has heard the pleas of same-sex couples:
It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.
Wedding bells will likely be ringing across the country in days to come, but for now, people are celebrating on social media by adding splashes of color to their avatars. Just minutes after the decision, the Twitter account of the White House itself uploaded a profile picture depicting rainbow a White House (oxymoron, much?), which must have been waiting in the wings before the decision was announced.
Anyone else curious who designed this image? Maybe we can start an investigation like they did with that jazz cup. The White House also posted this fun animated infographic on the history of same-sex marriage in the U.S. using the trending hashtag #LoveWins:
Back in April, when SCOTUS was first set to hear opening arguments for Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that spurred the decision, Hillary Clinton changed her Facebook and Twitter profile pictures to a rainbow version of her "H" campaign logo to support gay marriage.
Today, using the same avatar, she tweeted this clever image of a map coloring all states where same-same marriage is legal orange (spoiler alert: the whole map is orange):
Here are some more colorful online alter egos that you can save and upload to publicly celebrate the decision and show your support:
For all the Gaga fans:
And an accurate summary of what it felt like to scroll through my newsfeed:
When KYW Radio's Melony Roy announced the avatar change on Twitter, one user responded, "This country is moving to the left faster then I can type."
While I detect some serious snark in that tweet, that level of fear from the right is enough to make any LGBT rights supporter optimistic.
Images: The White House, Hillary Clinton, Cory Booker, mia farrow, Jeffrey Levin, TYBZI, Lady Gaga Daily, Tyler Rizzolla, Melony Roy/Twitter; Hillary Clinton/Facebook
