4.8
March 26, 2013

Why I Didn’t Change My Profile Picture Today.

In case you haven’t looked at the news (or Facebook) recently, today is a big day for marriage equality.

There was a time when I thought that since I was straight, marriage equality wasn’t my problem. Most of my gay friends weren’t at a point in life where they wanted to settle down and get married. It just wasn’t on my mind.

Time went on. And there came a point, I think it was when I realized a friend’s marriage was not going to be recognized due to Prop 8, that I realized what a big deal it was. It’s not a big deal “if you are gay.” It’s a big deal—for all of us.

Imagine for a minute that you love someone. You love him or her with your whole heart. And whatever you think about marriage—good, bad or indifferent—you love this person and want to be a family.

But it’s not legal. The government says it’s not okay for you to give your love fully and be a family.

It breaks my heart.

And I’ve written about this many times for elephant. It’s an important issue.

It’s so important that changing our profile pictures on Facebook and then moving on with our day is not enough.

Vote with your dollars. Stop supporting companies that don’t support marriage equality or offer benefits to all their families. And tell them why you’ve stopped supporting them!

Write to your congressmen and representatives. Write to our president:

 

Talk about it. Talk with your friends, your family, your children.

This isn’t about having special treatment. This is about being treated the same. We know better, so let’s do better. Don’t stop with changing your Facebook picture (though it’s been a beautiful sea of red and pink).

Be the change.

{Updated} Stand up so that everyone who loves can celebrate, just like elephant readers Lacey and Audra who were kind enough to share their celebration with us:

Lacey and Audra Wedding from Ben Poenisch on Vimeo.

Like equal rights for all on Facebook.

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