GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The colors of the rainbow have always been exhilarating, connoting optimism and hope. Thus, large numbers of Palestinians on Facebook applied a rainbow filter to their profile photos within 24 hours of it being offered as an option. Many of them, however — unfamiliar with the rainbow flag as a symbol of gay pride — did not know that the rainbow feature came in recognition of the June 26 ruling by the US Supreme Court declaring same-sex marriage a constitutional right.
“What happened was an act of deception. The symbols familiar in America and the West are not necessarily commonplace in the whole world,” Mohammed Abu al-Qomboz, and independent social media trainer, told Al-Monitor. “A large proportion of [Palestinian] Facebook users automatically rainbowed their profile picture, but few of them were aware of the meaning of these colors.”
