Flooded with Support for Gay Marriage, Facebook Releases New Pride Emoticon
June 27, 2013 — -- Google's not the only technology company making its support for marriage equality known with fun tricks. After the Supreme Court's ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which granted same-sex couples federal benefits, Facebook has released a new “pride” emoticon along with stats about the social network’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community.
According to the social network, 70 percent of Facebook users in America have a friend on the service that identifies as gay, lesbian or bisexual. The percentage is based on those who said they were in a relationship with someone of the same sex and those who listed themselves as "interested in" someone of the same sex or both sexes.
Given those stats, it might not be surprising how vocal the Facebook community has been about yesterday’s DOMA and Proposition 8 news. According to the social network, as of Thursday morning, there were four million mentions of the news on the site. To boot, Facebook says that 25 million profile pictures were changed yesterday – one of the highest on the social network ever, says the company. Many in support of the decision changed their photos to the HRC equality sign logo, which became very popular in March.
More Digital DOMA Tricks: Google 'Gay' and Get Rainbow Powered Search
And Facebook is catering to its audience. Today it rolled out a rainbow or pride emoticon. Compose a new status through the websites, click on the emoticon option (next to the camera icon), choose the “Feeling” selection and then type in “pride” and the rainbow emoticon will be added to your status.
“I'm proud that our country is moving in the right direction, and I'm happy for so many of my friends and their families. #PrideConnectsUs,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted on the service on Wednesday afternoon.
Google has similarly shown its support for the new legislation. Type “Gay” or “Gay Pride” into the search box this month and it will be highlighted with a rainbow search box.
