My Red Facebook Status

If you are a friend on mine on facebook you will notice that my status photo has changed this week.

That's because I support equal rights.

 

Here's an article from Time Magazine explaining more on this change you may have noticed on facebook (and other social media)- 

 

 

From Time Magazine:

Have you noticed that Facebook and Twitter users are changing their profile pictures and avatars to an image of a red equal sign?

That’s because the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, has been promoting an image of a pink equal sign over a red background in lieu of its Blue and Yellow Logo to mobilize supporters online as the Supreme Court begins hearings on gay marriage today in Washington. A symbol of equality, the photo has racked up more than 25,000 likes and 78,000 shares on the group’s Facebook page in the past 24 hours. In fact, Mashable reports that since actor George Takei  changed his profile picture to the red equal sign, the post has received more than 40,000 likes from fans.

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.

While the court’s favorability rating is at an all-time low, some supporters have taken to social media to add to the weight of public opinion. On Twitter — where Supreme Court ranks in the top 10 in the world’s trending list — supporters like actress Sophia Bush have changed their icons to the equal sign.

There has been some criticism of this trend, and comments from people saying sarcastically that they are sure the justices are tallying up the number of facebook status changes right now. HELLO!!!!
THAT IS NOT THE POINT.

Of course the justices are not tallying up the number of statuses and I don't care if they don't. What I care about is MY friends, MY acquaintances, knowing that I support equality. I have had a friend ask me what it meant and I shared with her. She had no idea and would not have if I had not changed my status to red.

I am a pretty "a-political person". Aside of being very vocal about the importance of voting I avoid talking about or posting anything , (or RARELY posting anything) political on my facebook status. I have friends and family who are VERY political and some who post numerous times a day, every day, on political topics. I avoid engaging in conversations with these people because I don't believe facebook is a platform where I am likely to be heard or be able to completely and accurately explain or defend my position. BUT. I believe in human rights, more specifically I believe in LGBT rights. I think it is WAYYYYYYYYY past time that the USA recognized their gay citizens as EQUAL citizens. So I am keeping my red status for now, regardless of whether people think it is pointless or that I am on some bandwagon, or WHATEVER they think.

The ruling of the supreme court is not due until sometime in June. I can guarantee on the day the ruling is handed down my facebook status WILL have something to say. SO if you think I am being political just now? Oh, wait.

Spring

We have had a LONG and a COLD winter.
Winters here are unlike anything I ever experienced growing up because they are so dark. The sun sets early and rises late and so I get up and go to work in the dark and then by the time I am done with work it is dark again. It takes a lot of getting used to! We start counting down the days of darkness at solstice and then counting days to the light again in December. FINALLY the light has come back - by mid-summer the sun is up in the sky until late late at night and up again early in the morning. I was working on my thesis tonight and it was 8 pm and it was still very light. It was deceptive, but I sure love the light.
We have had more snow this year than we have had in many years. There is still so much snow in the yard it is up to the frame of the trampoline where we attach the pad. Temperatures have been horrendous, FINALLY this week they crept up to 3 degrees (Celcius) and we have been outside and loving every minute of it!
You know you are a Canadian when.....

It cracks me up how one of the boys in in a winter coat and touque and the whole nine yards and the other is in a t-shirt!

Photo Friday

What rock have I been under?

I heard today, for the very first time in my life, about something called a Bechdel test.
I think my lesbian card is under threat of revocation, certainly my feminist card has been revoked (and my spouse when she reads this will be SHOCKED that I didn't know this).
In case you are wondering also, and we have been hanging together under rocks, this is the Bechdel test...
It is used to identify gender bias.
What? you ask?

Basically it asks people who go to a movie to look for three things:

Number 1. Are there two FEMALE characters in this movie whose name you know by the time the show is over?
Number 2. Do these two females ever talk to one another?
and finally,
Number 3. DO they talk about any topic other than talking about a man or men.

That's it. If the answer is yes to ALL three questions than your movie has passed the Bechdel test.

It's a pretty skimpy test if you ask me. I thought, for real? I mean the topic of the movie is not ever asked, it could still be a pretty horribly gender biased movie even if it meets these criteria, but since I didn't make up the test I'll follow the rules.

BUT GUESS WHAT!!!!!
Only ELEVEN, 11, ten plus one, 100-89, ELEVEN percent of movies that have been made in Hollywood pass this test.

Holy Smackers people. SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE!

Since the Bechdel test can also be applied to other media, I am going to start looking in the books I read to see if I can answer these questions. I'll let you know how it turns out.