What does the red equal sign mean?

Have you noticed that there are more and more people changing their profile pictures to a red equal sign on Facebook? The Human Rights Campaign, an organization in support of gay marriage that is running a particularly successful social media initiative as the Supreme Court discusses the issue over the next two days. The HRC asked gay marriage supporters to “paint the town red,” wearing red in their wardrobe as well on their Facebook pages, changing profile photos over to the HRC pink and red equal sign logo.

Even 13 members of congress have been displaying their support. Some people believe that explaining exactly what the red equal sign stands for might help the cause and gain more support so that more people understand what it means, but word is spreading fast and more and more people are showing their support. The push began to gain traction after George Takei posted about it on his widely popular Facebook page, which has nearly 4 million fans.

“For those friends wondering, this special ‘red’ equality symbol signifies that marriage equality really is all about love,” Takei wrote. His post had more than 50,000 likes and 20,000 shares as of Tuesday morning.

Today, the court is deliberating California’s Proposition 8, which bans the right for same-sex couples to marry. Tomorrow, arguments will be heard regarding the national Defense of Marriage Act, which has legally defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman since 1996.