Facebook change allows LGBT users to emerge from their online closets

Usually, when Facebook makes a major change to its site, the social media giant's 500 million users first complain and then adjust.

Recent changes to Facebook's relationship options may not be as noticeable as a change to profile layout, but they've left many members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community feeling appreciative and included.

Facebook recently added "in a civil union" and "in a domestic partnership" to its relationship status choices.

Kelly Gilliom, president of Stonewall Tigers at The University of Memphis, said she thinks the additions are a fantastic idea.

"I think it will positively affect the gay community because more than ever, gays are allowed to be out of the closet," she said. "There is still some discrimination, but the more we allow people to open up and be who they truly are, the more people will be able to realize every person is unique."

She said changes like the one Facebook has made, with its new additions to relationship status options, further allow people to be proud of who they are.

Jarrett Barios, president of national organization Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said in an e-mail that when millions of Facebook users see these relationship status options, they will gain a greater understanding of the legal inequalities faced by loving and committed same-sex couples.

"Being able to see same-sex couples in civil unions and domestic partnerships who celebrate their relationships no differently than married couples will serve as another reminder that these couples still lack the same legal recognition and protections associated with marriage," he said. "Facebook's noteworthy move also highlights the vast majority of same-sex couples living in states where there are no legal protections whatsoever."

Currently, gay marriages can be legally granted in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C. In New York, Maryland and Rhode Island, those marriages are recognized but not currently granted.

Facebook is translated into 70 different languages and used around the world, and users range from students at The U of M to President Barack Obama. Fifty percent of those users log on to the site on any given day, and people spend more than 700 billion minutes on the site per month, according to Facebook's internal statistics.

Barbara Kritchevsky, law professor at The U of M's Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, said while Facebook's latest amendment isn't a bad thing, she doesn't think the change will make much of a difference. She said Facebook does not have any advanced political impact.

"I don't know that it sends any messages at all," Kritchevsky said. "Maybe if you're someone who hates gay people, and you see it, is it going to make you hate gay people any less?"