“Star Trek” icon George Takei is lending a hand — or, rather, a finger — to the battle for marriage equality in Alabama by helping to launch a social media effort in protest of that state’s recent halt on same-sex marriages.
The actor and outspoken lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activist shared a photo of himself with his husband, Brad Takei, on Instagram and Twitter calling for his followers to give Alabama “the wedding finger” in response to the state’s apparent backtracking on marriage equality.
A photo posted by George Takei (@georgehtakei) on Mar 4, 2015 at 12:52pm PST
“I’m going to say it. Alabama is really starting to piss me off,” Takei wrote in a separate Facebook post.
In an email sent to The Huffington Post, Takei said:
I was genuinely dismayed to hear that a state’s highest court would flout a federal court order, which was left to stand by both the Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. This is grandstanding at its worst, and it is extraconstitutional.You know, 60 years ago it wasn’t considered a real marriage if a white person wanted to marry an Asian American like me. And now look, I married a white dude. Times change. Attitudes change. And for the better.
We decided to speak out in this somewhat tongue in cheek way to make an important point. It is all about love, and we, as a same-sex couple, just want the same right to have our love recognized.
We hope enough couples, gay and straight, join with us to make this point. We’ll be collecting up the pics, all tagged with the hashtag #LuvUAlabama plus each couple’s home state, to create a mosaic of support for marriage equality. We hope Alabama, too, soon joins the right side of history, as all of America one day will.
Others on Twitter, Instagram and other social media outlets quickly followed Takei’s lead:
From the good doctor in #NY. #LuvUAlabama
@JoeMyGod pic.twitter.com/29GAHl66wa
— Marriage Equality (@MarriageEqualty) March 4, 2015
Disgusted with the Alabama Supreme Court’s choice to promote hate and bigotry #LuvUAlabama #Mo pic.twitter.com/uZ1mHhppcL
— Tricia (@Boudica03) March 4, 2015
#LuvUAlabama #WV My now HUSBAND @glavaris and I a few years back. We WON in WV. Keep it up AL!!! pic.twitter.com/GBHfOHgo9n
— Justin W Murdock (@CitizenMurdock) March 4, 2015
You’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers. #LuvUAlabama pic.twitter.com/va1imv5ees
— The Hairy Gaytheist (@jhitchin) March 4, 2015
Only time will tell if the effort will have an impact in Alabama, where the battle for same-sex marriage has taken some unexpected twists in recent weeks.
In January, a federal judge found that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, while a number of probate judges promptly refused to comply with the ruling.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court refused in February to halt same-sex marriages in Alabama, the Alabama Supreme Court ordered probate judges to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples statewide in what has been deemed “a defiant ruling” on March 3.
