A popular cartoon captured the experience of logging in to social media the day the Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage: a thick blast of rainbow shoots out of a computer screen, blinding the hapless user. It started soon after the court’s decision; people on social media applied a rainbow filter to their profile image to celebrate. Companies followed suit, changing their Twitter avatars to rainbow-themed brand logos.
Like most popular things on the internet, the rainbow grew virally, and you could feel the tug to join in as close friends and coworkers, friends from high school and cousins on your dad’s side, actors and multinational corporations converged to celebrate the court’s decision. And if you, like me, were disappointed by the ruling, you found social media to be an increasingly contested space between these modified avatars and the disparaging responses from some Christians, and you wondered how to respond, or even if you should. What is the opposite of a rainbow?
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