Timed around Spirit Day, new reports have set it that Facebook is seeing more and more people ‘coming out’ on the social media platform than previous years.
- Since October 2012, 6 million Americans have come out on Facebook
- In the past 12 months, 800,000 Americans have changed their status to indicate attraction to the same sex
- A number of 26 million people showed support on Facebook after the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of gay marriage
In spite of receiving criticizing reports about repressing manners of self expression, Facebook underlines that they have seen a spike in numbers where it concerns to lesbians, gays, bisexuals or transgenders community. In fact, the social media has been the platform for 6 million Americans coming out, with a whopping 78% of them since October 2012.
For the purpose of their research, they have defined coming out as “updating one’s profile to express same-gender attraction or specifying a custom gender”. According to Facebook, the number of people coming out per day is now 3 times higher than it was in 2014.
It’s an excellent rise in numbers, perhaps displaying an overall better acceptance across the internet of the sexual minority. In fact, over the past 12 months, a number of over 800,000 Americans came out on Facebook.
The numbers have seen an understandable and optimistic increase after June 26th, 2015, when the Supreme Court made its decision on same-sex marriage. On an average day, 1 in 10 people changed their status per day to reflect same-gender interest. On the day when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage, the numbers have impressively doubled to 1 in 5.
This makes it possible that they will potentially reach 1 million by the end of the year. According to the study, the sheer numbers have shown the successful and incredible strides of the LGBTI community. They have been offered a voice and have also seen from the support of millions of people.
Across the social media platform, 5.6 million Americans like at least one of the 300 pages that are supportive of the LGBTI community. This includes Human Rights Campaign, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), and Equality Now. Between June 26th and July, fan pages have acquired 150,000 more members following the Supreme Court’s decision. This means a 25% increase over last year.
Furthermore, according to Facebook, an encouraging number of 26 million people applied the rainbow filter to their profile pictures in support. It has spread through both national and international borders.
This indicates incredible progress and marks one of the largest increases in support for the LGBTI community in history.
Image source: tacticaltech.org
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