Throughout American history, Supreme Court cases have set a huge precedent for social and political change, from aspects of the constitution to civil rights. But on Dec. 7 of last year, the nine esteemed justices met privately to discuss which cases to hear, or to grant cert, in legal jargon- and gave it to U.S. v. Windsor. This case challenges the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, a federal law made in 1996 preventing same-sex couples from receiving federal benefits. An example of this law in action could be seen last summer when Sally Ride, an astronaut known for being the first American woman to enter low Earth orbit and the youngest American astronaut to be launched into space, died at age 61 of pancreatic cancer, leaving behind her partner of 27 years, Tam O’Shaughnessy, who was not allowed to collect federal benefits.

The Court also decided to grant cert to Hollingsworth v. Perry, an ambitious case which questioned whether the Constitution guarantees same-sex couples the right to marriage.

It only takes four votes for a case to be heard, and five to make a decision. Among the current justices, there are four liberals, four conservatives, and one possible swing vote: Justice Anthony Kennedy. However, midway through hearing the oral arguments on March 29, Kennedy said he wondered “if the case was properly granted.”

The decision on the case won’t be released until late June, but since the court began arguments, a peculiar thing occurred: all social media sites turned red. Which is to say that many people across the wide hemisphere of cyber communication changed their profile pictures on March 30 to a red equal sign over a red background. What people failed to realize is that this image was a modified version of the Human Rights Campaign logo.

The Human Rights Campaign, or HRC, is a public interest group with the intention of advocating for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.

Freshman Sophia Coleman said of the profile changes that,  “I think when people change their profile pictures they show their support but I know many of them don’t really support as much as they are trying to show and that doing that doesn’t help that much.”

However, even with public calls for action as shown through the sweep of red prolife pictures, the HRC curenntly faces opposition because of the compromises it has made in Congress. In 2007, when the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, was being written to be submitted to the House of Representatives, the Human Rights Campaign failed to advocate for transgender people, as the bill protected sexual orientation, but not gender identity or expression, according to Gay City News.

Furthermore, according to the New York Times, in 2004, the HRC was frequently accused of being too passive as, after eleven states reformed their constitution to outlaw same sex marriage, they reformed their mission to be focused on merely developing personal relationships than actually advocating actively for gay marriage. This contrasts their actions today, which begs the question of whether they are merely capitalizing on same-sex marriage’s recent Supreme Court attention.

Not only has the HRC changed their logo from blue to red, but they’ve also come out with a new t-shirt line of red equals signs- at $25 each, all claiming to give full profits to “HRC’s fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality.”

As the wait drags on for June decisions for both cases, which may very well be struck down given Justice Kennedy’s comments, be sure to remain aware of the difference between an interest group trying to make a buck and a government making history.