An astonishing 26 million people “went rainbow” on Facebook

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Even The Terminator “went rainbow” on Facebook

It’s been revealed that 26 million people around the world changed their Facebook profile pictures this past weekend to show their support for LGBT equality.

Two interns at the social media company created the tool to allow users to layer a rainbow effect over their profile pictures to mark Pride month, which is celebrated in June in many countries.

The feature was introduced just after Friday’s legalisation of same-sex marriage across the US, thanks to a ruling by that country’s Supreme Court.

Not only did millions of members of the planet’s LGBT community and their friends and family change their photos but so did a host of celebrities.

Those who “went rainbow” included Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Anne Hathaway, Andy Cohen, E.L. James and even actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The result saw many people’s timelines awash with colour over the weekend, wonderfully outraging homophobes, including those in Russia who furiously called for Facebook to be blocked.

While some expressed cynicism about the real impact of the phenomenon and the depth of commitment from those outside of the LGBT community, we say, lighten up.

Yes, there’s still much to be done and many difficult challenges remain for LGBT people at home and throughout the world, but there’s no harm in celebrating our victories when they do come along.

Let’s also not forget that this brief show of unity, however faddish, could well have had a major influence on alienated, closeted and persecuted LGBT people who, for a little while at least, no longer felt quite so alone.

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