Facebook Adds Same-Sex Marriage Icons for Couples

Facebook has introduced a new Timeline feature that allows same-sex couples to declare their marriage status on the site with icons that best reflect the relationship, rather than the standard icon of a bride and a groom used for straight couples. The feature was first noticed over the weekend when Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes married his partner Sean Eldridge. An icon of two grooms was added to Hughes’ Facebook Timeline to announce their wedding news.    
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Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg was among one of the 1,800 members that Liked Hughes’ update.

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This isn’t the first time Facebook has showed support of same-sex couples. In February 2011 it introduced two relationship options for those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, including “In a domestic partnership” and “In a civil union.”

In addition, Facebook has partnered with GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) to prevent anti-gay bullying from occurring on the site. It also launched a Network of Support panel with MTV’s A Thin Line campaign to address LGBT issues and launches a Stop Bullying: Speak Up campaign with Time Warner.

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“Following Facebook’s addition of domestic partnership and civil union to profile options last year, these new marriage icons for timeline are another important way for same-sex couples to be recognized,” Allison Palmer, GLAAD’s head of campaigns and programming, told Mashable. “This move is the latest in a series of measures Facebook has taken to support and include the LGBT community, which earned it the distinction of being the first social media company to receive a GLAAD Media Award earlier this year.”

Source: Mashable