In “Warrior Princess”, Kristin Beck–formerly Chris Beck–talks about the decades she spent concealing who she really was in order to train as a SEAL and battle through special operations.

“For years Chris had turned off his sexuality like a light switch and lived as a warrior, consumed with the battle — living basically asexual. For Chris the other SEALs were brothers and in the man’s man warrior lifestyle, even if he had wanted to entertain sexual thoughts, there really was never any time to be thinking too much about sexuality,” says the book, which was co-written by Anne Speckhard.

After retiring just a few months before Osama bin Laden was killed, Kristin said she was free to begin hormone therapy and start down the path towards the life she always felt she was meant for. But having been in the Navy meant fear of backlash from the men she’d called her brothers for so many years, and writing a book detailing time spent on classified missions–including pictures–is a rare choice for someone formerly in the service. Many write under pseudonyms.

But to her surprise, Kristine received a bounty of support from her fellow officers, and included accounts of messages in the book. One friend wrote, ” … I just wanted to drop you a note and tell you that Kris has all the support and respect from me that Chris had … and quite possibly more. While I’m definitely surprised, I’m also in amazement at the strength you possess and the courage necessary to combat the strangers and ‘friends’ that I’m guessing have reared their ugly heads prior to and since your announcement.”

Indeed, it takes a lot of courage to go public for an average citizen; for someone who spent decades as a bearded “man’s man” in the Navy SEAL program, it’s particularly daunting. Even after the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal, it’s a difficult journey for someone in the LGBT community to come out, and transgender individuals are still banned from military service.

In the book, Speckhard writes that Chris was “didn’t feel he was gay. But he also didn’t feel he was a man, so he didn’t really know how to negotiate a sexual relationship whilst in a man’s body. He was lost—with no maps, no compass, and no guide.”

Image: Advanced Press

Heading up 2 Silicon Valley on Monday after premiering my song on Seacrest! Can’t wait 2 meet the homies @ Facebook Twitter Instagram & Vine

— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) June 1, 2013

Here she is with the Instagram team:

And here she is in front of various hacking posters at Facebook HQ:

Facebook’s LGBTQ page shared these photos of Miley Cyrus’ visit to Facebook HQ. They say she was there to help kick off LGBTQ Pride Month:

After taking some questions on Facebook at Facebook HQ…

She was on to Apple:

outta here homies off to apple xo

— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) June 3, 2013

Of course, her Silicon Valley trip came after the premiere of her new single “We Can’t Stop” on Ryan Seacrest’s morning show in L.A. As of now, the song is #1 on the iTunes charts.

[Additional photos via Twitter]

The image was shared by the Human Rights Campaign’s Facebook page, who repurposed their normal blue and yellow logo to show support for same-sex marriage as the U.S. Supreme Court began to hear arguments in two relevant cases.

Facebook’s data science team has analyzed the campaign, and has provided us with a neat little map of all the counties in the U.S. The redder the county, the more profile pic changes its Facebook users made on that day.

Look, we’re not saying that there are no marriage equality supporters in the south, or that everyone in California or Michigan supports same-sex marriage. We’re just saying that the look of this map leaves nobody around here surprised.

Facebook notes a not all that curious trend. Apparently, many of the top 25 counties in the country that showed the most love for HRC’s marriage equality campaign house colleges – Orange (University of North Carolina), Durham (Duke University), Monroe (Indiana University), Johnson (University of Iowa), Athens (Ohio University), Dane (University of Wisconsin), Boulder (University of Colorado), and Travis (University of Texas at Austin).

Apart from that, San Francisco County, San Mateo County, and Washington, D.C. also ranked high on the list for changed profile pics.

Facebook’s data team has some more interesting insights about HRC’s campaign. Here’s a couple:

• 120% more people across the network changed their profile picture on Tuesday compared to the previous Tuesday.
• Those closest to the age of 30 were the most likely users to update their profile picture.
• Females were slightly more likely (2.3%) to change their profile pic.

Facebook closes their study with this:

“For a long time, when people stood up for a cause and weren’t all physically standing shoulder to shoulder, the size of their impact wasn’t immediately apparent. But today, we can see the spread of an idea online in greater detail than ever before. That’s data well worth finding.”

Did you change you profile picture on Tuesday?

After a quick glance down your Twitter stream or your Facebook news feed, this is more than obvious.

But what you’re about to see is a simple graph that shows exactly how much of a disruption in the normal Twitter flow has been caused by the reinvigorated same-sex marriage debate (thanks the the Supreme Court’s interest in the topic).

First spotted by SFGate’s Tech Chronicles blog, it looks like the use of the term “unfollow” has seen a surge in the days leading up to the opening arguments in the two same-sex marriage Supreme Court cases.

Here’s the past week’s worth of mentions on Twitter (provided by Topsy). The yellow is mentions of “unfollow.” You can see the spike occurred near similar spikes for terms like “gay marriage” (blue) and “same-sex” (red).

It doesn’t take a genius to infer as to why these terms saw a similar surge. For the most part, you see people drawing a line in the sand, saying “hey, I support/oppose gay marriage, and if you don’t like it you can unfollow me.”

For example:

Im sorry but if you’re not for Gay Rights, unfollow me now.

— Corinaa♔ (@corona717) March 27, 2013

If you’re against Gay Marriage, go ahead and unfollow me please, thank you.

— Sofia Herrera (@SoofHerrera) March 27, 2013

No, im against gay marriage. Unfollow me if you want, but the bible is not for gay marriage. #Sorrynotsorry

— Brunette Love (@brunettelove123) March 27, 2013

If you’re against marriage equality, please unfollow me.You can hate LOST all you want, but you can’t hate love.

— Damon Lindelof (@DamonLindelof) March 26, 2013

Just FYI, the gay marriage support vastly outweighs the gay marriage opposition if you just scan Twitter.

Then you have the people who have already made the decision to unfollow someone based on one of their tweets:

I’m disgusted that any person I follow would tweet gay marriage is wrong. #Unfollow #GayIsOkay

— Juliet! ♥ (@Juliet_Dean98) March 27, 2013

Also, people that are warning others that they will be unfollowed if they tweet a certain way:

Pause, I will unfollow every person who has a problem with gay marriage or rights. Let me know how you feel 1x to make this simple.

— Kait (@darlingkait) March 27, 2013

And judging by the sheer volume of gay marriage-related tweets I’ve seen in the past couple of days, I can assure you that there is probably a whole lot of unfollowing going on.

[Image via erin_wagner, Instagram]

It’s been interesting to see the creative ways people are using the red equal sign in their own ways. Appropriately, Martha Stewart Living went the cake route:

The post currently has nearly 14,000 likes and nearly 16,000 shares. The profile picture is still Martha Stewart’s face, however.

The red equal sign image started with the Human Rights Campaign, which posted it on their Facebook page. It’s a play on the campaign’s logo, which is traditionally yellow on blue.

It’s highly likely that many of the red equal signs will continue to penetrate your Facebook news feed throughout today, as the court will hear arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act. As previously reported, a number of tech companies, including Facebook itself (and Google), have filed an amicus brief arguing that the act is bad for business.

Mashable, which pointed to the Martha Stewart image has a slideshow of various brands that are showing their support.

The red equals sign was a play on the standard blue and yellow equals sign logo for the Human Rights Campaign.

Today, Facebook has some quick numbers on the top-buzzing terms over the last day, and it looks like equality has won out.

According to Facebook’s Talk Meter, which looks at buzz around specific events, the term “Equality” was the most-used term surrounding the gay marriage debate. Facebook says its use was up 5,000% on Tuesday.

Also:

The top age group talking about the landmark cases yesterday, in advance of oral arguments, was the 35-44 range followed by 25-34 and 45-54.

Geographically speaking, people in Washington, D.C. were buzzing the most in anticipation of the hearings, followed by users in Utah, Oklahoma, Arkansas, California, Oregon, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado.

Here’s Facebook’s full list of the top ten terms buzzing on the network on Tuesday.

1. Equality
2. DOMA
3. Supreme Court
4. Perry
5. Kennedy
6. Prop 8
7. Kagan
8. SCOTUS
9. Scalia
10. Defense of Marriage

Don’t expect the Facebook buzz for same-sex-related and Supreme Court-related topics to die down today. Tuesday, the court heard arguments on California’s Prop 8. But today, the court will begin to hear arguments on the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, which barred many federal agencies from recognizing same-sex marriage (in terms of some benefits and such). Many high-profile tech companies and other American businesses (including Facebook) have filed a amicus brief arguing that DOMA is simply bad for business.

As you may have heard, the U.S. Supreme Court began to hear arguments in the first of two cases involving same-sex marriage today. The first one involves the constitutionality of California’s voter-approved Prop 8, which bans same-sex marriage. The other one involves the nearly two-decades old Defense of Marriage Act.

Today, Facebook users are showing solidarity with the marriage equality cause by sharing and making a red equals sign photo their temporary profile pic.

The photo originated with the Human Rights Campaign, who posted the image to their Facebook page. As of right now it has over 15,000 likes and over 47,000 shares.

The red and pink equals sign is a play on the HRC’s logo, which is a yellow equals sign on a blue background.

The photo began to spread even faster when Facebook superstar George Takei shared it with his 3.7 million+ followers.

George Takei2 hours ago

For those friends wondering, this special “red” equality symbol signifies that marriage equality really is all about love. Thanks to the Human Rights Campaign for this effort. Please consider changing your profile today in support–esp if you are a straight ally. Powered by socialditto  1,000+ likes ·  1,000+ comments

Whether changing your profile pic in support of a cause is worthwhile or simply slacktivism is up for debate. But there’s no denying that the HRC’s campaign is one of the most successful campaigns of this type that we’ve seen in a while (ever since KONY 2012, really). Maybe it’s just the company I keep on Facebook. Are you seeing a lot of red in your news feed today?

Green Street United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem, NC, has asked that its pastors refrain from signing any marriage licenses issued by the state of North Carolina (or any other same-sex marriage-restricting state) until “full privilege is offered to same sex couples.” Pastors are being directed to conduct “relationship blessings” instead.

Here’s how the church explains their position:

As an Anti-Racist, Reconciling Congregation, Green Street United Methodist Church seeks to be in faithful ministry with all people in the brokenness of our world. This statement is being adopted as a sign of our commitment to love and justice for all people.

The Marriage Covenant between two people is a ministry of the church. Couples making a commitment to one another need a supportive community of faith to sustain and uphold them so as to grow in faith and love. Weddings are the occasion for covenant making, a time to seek God’s blessing on their commitment to one another. When a couple chooses to be married in the church, they should also be conscious that they are making a declaration of their relationship as a new ministry for the congregation and the world. At Green Street Church, we claim the committed same-sex relationships as no less sacred in their ministry to us and the community.

But sadly, at this time in the United Methodist Church, marriages, weddings and holy unions are limited to heterosexual couples. As our nation struggles to provide legal recognition to people in same-sex relationships and provide them the privileges allotted to opposite-sex married couples, our denomination struggles to overcome the sin of reserving these sacramental privileges for straight people only. We, the leaders of Green Street Church, see people in same-sex relationships as completely worthy of the Sacrament of Marriage. We reject any notion that they are second class citizens in the Kingdom of God.

The move looks to pressure the Methodist denomination, who currently bans the performance of same-sex marriages, into allowing such ceremonies.

The church is receiving both positive and negative feedback over the decision on their Facebook page, as would be expected. This post announcing the move has become a verbal battleground:

Green Street United Methodist Church3 days ago

From Equality NC!

Timeline Photos

Powered by socialditto  159 likes ·  193 comments

“This so called church…must not read the book they preach…What a mess…” says one commenter.

“How sad. The last days…right is wrong, and wrong is right. Just throw your bibles away,” says another.

“So you must believe that all things are moral. Adultery, beastiality, and the like. Is this what being a Christian means?”

The back-and-forth is fairly equal:

“You folks are awesome! Thank you very much for your support and compassion,” says one supporter.

“Thank you, Green Street. I hope your courage will inspire other churches to follow suit,” says another.

Angry Facebook users are also taking to the page’s recommendations, using the Timeline widget to sound off at the church.

“Some people see this as unfair to straight couples, but the Leadership Council of GSUMC sees this as an invitation to stand in solidarity with LGBTQ people. Straight couples have many more options to get married than same-sex couples,” says the church.

“The scattered verses of Scripture that refer to homosexual behavior and desire have sparked many debates in the faith community. It is clear from a reading of all such passages that long-term, committed, monogamous relationships between people of the same gender was not a concept at the time of the writing of Scripture.”

Last month, an ad for Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite ereader featured a gay couple and made people on the internet argue, as these things tend to do. I guess only straight couples should be able to enjoy ebooks on the beach.

Anyway, it appears that Microsoft is following in Amazon’s footsteps. Their new ad for Outlook leaves no room for speculation concerning the company’s stance on marriage equality. Check it out:

Last month, Microsoft was one of the many tech companies (including Apple, Facebook, and Google) to sign amicus briefs supporting marriage equality. Later this year, the Supreme Court will decide two important cases on the topic – one involving California’s Prop 8 and one involving the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Microsoft was criticized way in 2005 for contemplating turning a pro-gay rights agenda into a neutral one. Eventually, the company decided to support a Washington gay rights bill.

“After looking at the question from all sides, I’ve concluded that diversity in the workplace is such an important issue for our business that it should be included in our legislative agenda,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “I respect that there will be different viewpoints. But as CEO, I am doing what I believe is right for our company as a whole.”

Since 2005, Washington has been on a path to marriage equality, eventually legalizing gay marriage last year.

When she tried to access certain LGBT sites for research purposes, Fioravante was met with a filter notice that cited a “sexuality” filter as the reason for the blocking. She posted a YouTube video detailing her situation and also began a petition on change.org asking the high school to stop blocking LGBT sites. The petition has amassed over 3,300 signatures and drew the attention of the ACLU.

In their letter, the ACLU notes that this sort of filtering is considered viewpoint discrimination that was recently ruled unconstitutional in a recent court case.

They state that the “sexuality” filter seems to be only blocking LGBT-oriented sites.

But it’s not just LGBT sites that the school district’s filter (running Smoothwall software) is blocking. Apparently, the firewall is preventing access to anti-gay websites from organizations like the National Organization for Marriage and the the Family Research Council. The reason given is that these sites are blocked due to “intolerance.”

The ACLU says that this is also ill-advised, as blocking even an “intolerant” viewpoint is an independent violation of the First Amendment.

The ACLU gives the school district until March 14th to address their concerns before they proceed with legal action.

“The ACLU respectfully requests that Governor Mifflin School District immediately reconfigure its Smoothwall filtering system so that it operates in a viewpoint-neutral manner or the District should find an alternate software vendor with a product that satisfies the requirements of both the Children’s Internet Protection Act (“CIPA”) and the First Amendment. Please contact us by Thursday, March 14, to advise us whether you will make the requested changes to the filter and if so, how you intend to do so,” says the letter.

[h/t The Verge]