Social media erupted after yesterday's U.S. Supreme Court ruled states could not ban same-sex marriage. Following the ruling politicians, actors, public officials and gay and straight citizens took to the Internet to voice their opinions on the historic ruling.
The 5-4 decision was handed down after a long bitter battle over what some have called the “defining civil rights challenge of our time.”
The majority opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, recognizes a centuries-old “understanding” of marriage as “a union between two persons of the opposite sex,” it said“the history of marriage is one of both continuity and change.”
“That institution — even as confined to opposite-sex relations — has evolved over time,” the Supreme Court’s ruling says.
Shonda Rhimes, @shondarhimes took to Twitter to tweet: #MarriageEquaility!!!! A giant step towards our country being a better place to be!
Former President Bill Clinton @billclinton tweeted “America's continuing journey toward a more perfect union just took another very important step. #SCOTUSMarriage”
John Legend @johnlegend tweeted “Very happy about the SCOTUS rulings this week! Marriage Equality, Fair Housing and Affordable Health Care!”
Pink @pink tweeted “Love WINS!!!!!!!!”
Neil Patrick Harris @ActuallyNPH tweeted “It's a new day. Thank you Supreme Court. Thank you Justice Kennedy. Your opinion is profound, in more ways than you may know. #huzzah”
Tim Cook @Tim_Cook tweeted “Today marks a victory for equality, perseverance and love”
Lena Dunham @lenaduhnam tweeted “Weddings are about to get a lot less boring…”
Judy Blume @judyblume tweeted “Thanks to the SCOTUS Five! Wish I were in Key West right now to celebrate w/@equalityfl. But I'll celebrate in Madison, Ct @rjjulia w/editor”
Ellen DeGeneres @TheEllenShow tweeted “Love won. #MarriageEquality”
Seth MacFarlane @SethMacFarlane “Congratulations America for finally catching up to the modern era with this landmark step forward for gay and lesbian rights.”
J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling tweeted “Wow. Another historic day for #MarriageEquality! https://twitter.com/bbcbreaking/status/614434381688635392”
Rosi @rosie tweeted “WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL ! #gaymarriage #LoveWins #SCOTUS #KaliefBrowder”
The hashtag #samesexmarriage was off the charts trending worldwide within minutes of the ruling.
Many social networks also celebrated the ruling. Facebook rolled out a new tool called Celebrate Pride. The tool allows Facebook users to show their support for marriage equality by turning their profile photos into a rainbow version of their profile picture. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO went online and made the announcement just minutes after the ruling and used the tool to change his own profile picture. Zuckerberg released the following statement:
“Our country was founded on the promise that all people are created equal, and today we took another step towards achieving that promise. I’m so happy for all of my friends and everyone in our community who can finally celebrate their love and be recognized as equal couples under the law. We still have much more to do to achieve full equality for everyone in our community, but we are moving in the right direction.”
Google and YouTube also celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling. Google used rainbow Easter eggs in its search results and on Google Hangouts. If you search the term “marriage equality” on Google, you will also see a rainbow heart and rainbow people holding hands to support marriage equality.
Both Android and Apple demonstrated their support for LGBT Pride. Today, Apple updated its iTunes interface in rainbow colors. They also included a separate LGBT Pride section in iTunes with the rainbow-themed iTunes logo. The company also added new books, movies, apps, TV shows, and podcasts that represent the LGBT community on its Apps Store. Android featured its green alien holding the pride flag.
Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the dissent and called the ruling a “threat to American democracy.”
“Today’s decree says that my Ruler, and the Ruler of 320 million Americans coast-to-coast, is a majority of the nine lawyers on the Supreme Court.”
At least 36 states plus the District of Columbia currently recognize gay marriage in some form. The other 16 states, meanwhile, have passed state laws banning same-sex marriage. Those laws are now unconstitutional.
