Facebook Equality and Marriage Equality, AKA the Simplest Moral Issue in a Long Time

Facebook, Facebook profile red equal sign, marriage equality, justice scalia, scotus, us supreme court

(follow Ethan on Facebook or Twitter)I have never seen anything go so viral so fast as what happened on Facebook yesterday, in response to the US Supreme Court beginning to hear arguments about marriage equality in this country. It was inspiring to see how many people actually care about the issue enough to put a red equal sign as their profile pic.Meanwhile the New Yorker had a little fun with conservative Justice Scalia regarding a lifelong fear of homosexuals, and other justices expressed doubts that the case was ready to be heard at this time based on its composition.I often like to delve into the political implications of interdependence Buddhist practice and mindfulness meditation. There are many complex social and political issues where  many vantage points might have wisdom in regards to the moral and ethical applications of Buddhist thought. Equal rights, Civil Rights, especially in secular democratic society, is just not one of these issues. We cannot think that all beings are basically good and have awakened Buddha-nature, but somehow feel they don't deserve the same rights as others. I am not sure how any Buddhist practitioner could actually justify being against marriage equality, but I'm willing to hear the argument. Meanwhile, with all of its downside for distracting us from life, it seems like what happened yesterday on Facebook was a good example of how social networking can be used for compassion.