Social Media Reacts To SCOTUS Same-Sex Marriage Ruling
MIAMI (CBS4) - While people waited for word on the steps of the Supreme Court Wednesday, others waited by their computers and smart phones, eagerly checking Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates from the nation's highest court on the fate of the Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8.
In this information age, the Justice's opinions spread quickly, and they were amplified around the world via social media.
On Twitter, the phrase "Love is Love" was a trending topic.
President Obama used the words as a hashtag in a tweet from his account in which he wrote, "Today's #DOMA ruling is a historic step forward for #marriageequality."
By 3pm, his post had been re-tweeted more than 63,000 times.
The White House also tweeted a photo of the President calling Edie Windsor, the plaintiff in the DOMA case, from Air Force One.
SCOTUS Blog, a site dedicated to comprehensive Supreme Court coverage, saw a huge increase in traffic.
A curator for the blog's Twitter account told CBS 4's Lauren Pastrana via tweet they had gained about 23,000 followers Wednesday.
"There was great news today from the Supreme Court," announced a video clip posted on YouTube by the Human Rights Campaign.
The video explained what is next for same-sex couples across the country.
Instagram users added the hashtag "DOMA" to more than 32,000 photos. Many of the images proudly featured an equal sign, a symbol which has become synonymous with the quest for same-sex marriage equality.
Popular search engine Google got in on the action. The search box got the "rainbow treatment" whenever someone typed in the term "gay" or "gay marriage".
South Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen rejoiced on Twitter.
She tweeted, "#SCOTUS strikes down #DOMA 2day! We must cont fight 4 our Constitutional rights + equality 4 all!"
Jason Collins, the NBA's first active openly gay player, tweeted, "Glad to see that #SCOTUS got it right today. Makes me and a whole lot of other people very happy. An end to #DOMA and #Prop8 #equalityforall."
In the months leading up to the Supreme Court ruling, celebrities like engaged actress Kristen Bell vowed to get married only when her gay friends could do the same.
Today, she re-popped the question via Twitter to her long-time fiancé actor Dax Shepard.
"@daxshepard1 will you marry me? Xo #marriageequality #loveislove," the new mother tweeted.
Shepard's response, "DOMA is dead. Prop 8 is dead. Now let's bring my big, gay marriage to @IMKristenBell to Life!!!!"
Some conservative lawmakers, like House Speaker John Boehner have remained quiet about the ruling on their social media pages, but have issued statements to the press.
The Family Research Council, a group which advocates marriage as between one man and one woman, took to Twitter with a hashtag of its own.
"When are the real marriage polls?" the council asked in a tweet. 'Election day. 38 states affirm that marriage is between a man and a woman #1m1w"
