The Red Sea on Facebook

You've seen them, and if you haven't then you're either blind, or *GASP* not on Facebook. They're the red equal signs that started appearing on Tuesday when the Supreme Court took up the Prop 8 case. By the end of yesterday, nearly a quarter of my friends list were flashing the neat red squares with the two pink rectangles upon it.

Many of them had been uniquely altered to suit the personality of the person displaying it. Mine, at the time of this writing, is:    I saw someone else using it, and quickly 'stole' it for myself. It exactly suited my mood at the time. I had just rewritten my last post and sent it out into the blogosphere and was feeling euphoric and hopeful.

I will never forget the first one I saw, however. It was the one my straight sister was using, being one of the very first to do so. You'd have to understand my family history to fully realize the importance of that act. Of all my four siblings and seven nieces and nephews, she is the only one to publicly support me, and gay civil rights. For my sake she does this, as well as to acknowledge her own moral imperatives. And it makes a difference. A huge, rib cracking hug difference.

The swelling sea of red cascading down the feeds in front of my very eyes is so healing, so emotionally supportive that it nearly makes me cry. Every single one of those people have declared themselves on the side of equality, straight and LGBT alike. The massive spiritual awakening taking place in America, reflected in the mirror of Facebook, feels substantive for the first time in my life.

Thank you, everyone who flew/flies/will fly the red equal sign during the Supreme Court hearings. You are publicly taking your place on the right side of history. Welcome to the fight.