by Nikki Silverstein
Hero: Civil rights in America chalked up another victory on Friday. The Supreme Court declared that gay marriage is legal in every state in America. “Under the Constitution, same-sex couples seek in marriage the same legal treatment as opposite-sex couples, and it would disparage their choices and diminish their personhood to deny them this right,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote. Fly the rainbow flags, ring the church bells and put up the chuppahs, because Marinites and people across the country will be tying the knot. Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, the five members of the Supreme Court who voted for gay marriage, deserve our respect and admiration for this groundbreaking ruling on the requirements of the 14th Amendment.
Zero: Facebook is the time-suck that helps us reconnect with high school friends and keeps us up to date on the minutia of their lives. It’s also a site where bigots run amok. A discriminatory fake name reporting tool on Facebook allows any idiot to flag accounts if their owners aren’t using their “authentic names.” LGBTQ and Native American users, among others, are being maliciously targeted and reported. Facebook condones the cyber-bullying by suspending their accounts until they provide a government ID to prove their identity. Although Facebook made minor policy modifications, user accounts are still being suspended. It’s Pride month. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage. C’mon, Facebook—fake name reporting punishes identity, not behavior. Join the protest at mynameiscampaign.org.
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