Unless you were under social media blackout yesterday, you couldn’t have missed the Internet rising up to support marriage equality via the sharing of a pink-on-red “equal sign” icon. It also didn’t take long for wags across the Web to begin sharing variations on that theme.
The original image — a brainchild of activists at the Human Rights Campaign — aimed to rally support on the first day of Supreme Court oral arguments over California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state when voters approved it in 2008. The campaign began simply, with many people adopted the image as their social media profile pictures.
Soon enough though, the Internet meme machine kicked into gear, producing some hilarious — and occasionally powerful and inspiring — variations on what now feels like an iconic image. Here are five of the best.
1. Ring Me, Maybe
From Facebook user Terri Allison, who shared the image on the page of social media maven and gay rights activist George Takei. The Star Trek actor had a field day yesterday sharing viral iterations of the equal sign with abandon.
2. Weigh In, He Must
Witness this apt Star Wars line from the galaxy’s inverse syntactical proverb master, Master Yoda.
3. Bacon Equality
From the webcomic geniuses over at The Oatmeal, we present you with a call for equal rights for bacon. Who wouldn’t get behind that?
4. Grumpy Cat Says “Yes”
It takes a lot to get Grumpy Cat to throw her weight behind a cause. Fun fact: Grumpy Cat’s real name is Tardar Sauce, and Catster’s Amy Vernon got to meet her in person at this year’s SXSW.
5. The Circle Of Life
The moment Rafiki holds up Simba in The Lion King is about as iconic as it gets. It’s a nice Photoshop job that makes a simple point.
