In the weeks before two landmark marriage equality cases reached the United States Supreme Court, the Human Rights Campaign—in partnership with dozens of other fair-minded organizations—launched groundbreaking coalition efforts to lift up the nationwide conversation around marriage. The results exceeded our highest hopes.
Hundreds of prominent American companies, dozens of leading Republicans, and President Barack Obama each filed historic amicus briefs to the Court in support of equal marriage. Five U.S. Senators announced their support for marriage equality in a 72 hour period. Thousands gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court in support of equal justice under the law. A graphic on what's at stake at the Supreme Court became HRC's most retweeted Tweet in history. And a simple red HRC logo took over Facebook, quadrupled traffic to HRC.org, and came to symbolize a transformative moment for equality.
Read more on what we did and how we did it.
Celebrity Engagement
From actors to musicians and athletes to TV personalities, dozens of celebrities shared the modified HRC logo or supportive messages about marriage equality with their millions of followers on social media. “It's about TIME!!! #EQUALITY #MarryWhoYouLove,” said Beyoncé, posting the HRC logo to her more than 44 million followers. Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons changed his Twitter profile photo and tweeted, “Love is love. Strike down #DOMA,” to his more than 2.5 million followers.
Other celebrities who showed support include Sophia Bush, Leonardo DiCaprio, Fergie, Kristen Bell, Alicia Keys, George Takei, Padma Lakshmi, Kate Walsh, Felicity Huffman, Jake Johnson, Jaime King, Mandy Moore, Whitney Cummings, Abby Wambach, Jason Mraz, Tegan & Sara, Lance Bass, Alyssa Milano, Martha Stewart and Ellen DeGeneres.
Corporate Endorsements
Highly recognized brands and corporations jumped in and showed their support for marriage equality with creative reimaginings of the red HRC logo. Highlights included Bud Light, Bonobos, Fab.com, Kenneth Cole, L'occitane en Provence, Maybelline, Absolut, Marc Jacobs International, Smirnoff, Martha Stewart Weddings, HBO's True Blood and so many more.
Support from Political Leaders
In a 72 hour period, Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Mark Warner (D-VA), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Jon Tester (D-MT) and Kay Hagan (D-NC) all publicly embraced marriage equality. Numerous governors turned their profiles red, including NH's Maggie Hassan, CA's Jerry Brown, CT's Dannel Malloy, IL's Pat Quinn, MD's Martin O'Malley, RI's Lincoln Chafee, DE’s Jack Markell and VT's Peter Shumlin. Countless other elected officials joined in by Tweeting their support or updating their profiles.
HRC Logo Memes
An astonishing number of equality supporters created their own remixes of the HRC logo. View a slideshow of some of our favorite memes here. Still can't get enough? Visit Red4Equality on Tumblr for hundreds more.
