When the clock struck midnight in New York State on Sunday morning, same-sex marriage was suddenly legal in the state. What better place to tie the knot than Niagara Falls, especially when it’s lit up like a rainbow?
As gay couples began their midnight nuptials at the traditional honeymoon spot, they were surprised by the sudden colorful backdrop of Niagara Falls sporting the rainbow hues that have served as a rallying banner for LGBT activists fighting for their civil rights.
Pop singer/actor and former ‘N Sync-er Lance Bass tweeted this photo of the Falls (update: turns out he didn’t create this pic — it was taken a while ago by Flickr user Mykelle Nicole, and now it’s being passed around as a symbol of the official beginning of gay marriage in NY), and posted it to TwitPic as the crowd celebrated the auspicious occasion. Now the photo’s gone viral, with more than 31,000 views so far. Exclaimed Bass in a Twitter post just after midnight, “Niagra Falls right now! So amazing!”
Saudi Arabian women plan to start driving their cars Friday, one month after Manal al-Sherif — a key figure in a social media campaign against a ban on female drivers — was arrested when she posted a YouTube video of herself driving around the city of Khobar.
The mass driving campaign is the result of an online movement that began around two months ago, when Saudi women’s rights activists called for the country’s women to start driving their own cars on June 17. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that prevents women from driving. Though there is no written law on the matter, religious rulings are enforced by the police, which has the same effect as a ban. Women are forced to rely on live-in drivers or male relatives for transportation.
Activists pushed the movement via Facebook, Twitter and other online outlets before some of those accounts were shut down. And al-Sherif was arrested and jailed after her YouTube video (pictured above) hit the web. Al-Sherif was eventually released from a women’s prison after nine days, pledging she would no longer drive nor take part in the Women2Drive initiative.
But online support for the campaign has lived on through copies of earlier Facebook groups. And people in other parts of the world have also taken up the cause. The Honk for Saudi Women viral campaign is one example, featuring videos of women and men from around the world, honking their horns in support of Saudi women who will drive on June 17. The campaign also has a petition on online activism platform Change.org, asking Oprah to make a similar video in a show of support.
Other petitions on Change.org call on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Catherine Ashton — the European Union’s representative for foreign affairs and security policy — to publicly support Saudi women’s right to drive.
This isn’t the first time Saudi women have tried to organize such a campaign. The initiative has been in the works since November 1990, when 47 women drove around Riyadh before getting caught and arrested. Eman Al Nafjan, a female blogger and post graduate student in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, says the women were suspended from their jobs and faced widespread condemnation from mosque pulpits. Fliers were distributed with contact information for the women, and citizens were encouraged to call up and condemn them.
Al Nafjan says the backlash caused the campaign to quiet down for a while, but this year’s Arab Spring probably inspired women to speak up again — not just to be allowed to drive, but for other rights as well.
