Facebook is one of the best ways to show your allegiance to a cause — not only is it good to discuss important topics, and have an audience for the issues that plague us (like gun control, for one), but it's a way we can bond together over a common cause. In the recent past, you might have seen a few filters floating around based on big news stories, such as rainbow-colored profile pictures for marriage equality, and the colors of the flag of France, after the awful attacks that happened last year. You might be wondering how to change your Facebook profile picture for Pride, which is a month-long celebration that honors the amazing LGBT community, and luckily, the process is pretty simple. Once again, your picture can show your network that you're extremely supportive of the LGBT movement, and believe in acceptance and love above all else.
Pride events happen throughout the United States annually during the month of June, with parades, festivals, and concerts. Due to the tragedy that occurred in Orlando, these LGBT-positive celebrations are more and more important — attendees need to know that the actions of one terrible person shouldn't make them feel unsafe at venues and events that celebrate their sexual orientation. If you can't attend one of these events, changing your Facebook profile picture is a quick and easy way to let the community know that you stand by them.
Last year, Facebook set up a page that made it easy to swap out photos to celebrate. In 2015, a representative for Facebook commented on the site that "We see this tool as one more way to make Facebook a place where people can express their authentic identity," and in turn, 26 million users used the filter to show their support. This year, at the time of this story's publication, Facebook hasn't announced the revival of this tool yet — but thankfully, another site called Rainbow Filter stepped up to offer a similar service.
Rainbow Filter allows users to change their photo on all social networking websites, including Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. All you have to do is click on "Rainbow Filter," select a photo from your computer, and Rainbow Filter will do the rest. You can choose to log in to Facebook or Twitter before creating your photo, or save it to add manually later.
If you choose to add your photo manually, you can save the image and go to Facebook to update. If you send the photo over to your phone, you can give your new photo an expiration date by making it temporary. So, if you only want the profile picture to last until the end of June before switching back, that's definitely an option. On both iPhone and Android, you can do this by logging in, tapping "Upload Photo" by your profile picture, choosing your filtered picture from your camera roll, and clicking on "Make Temporary." Afterwards, you can crop it like you normally would. Any picture you have saved can be filtered, so feel free to go nuts.
Rainbow Filter offers other filters as well: an American flag, which will make your photo red, white, and blue; a Human Rights Campaign filter, which shows the HRC official logo; and a filter of the Orlando city flag, just to name a few.
Of course, you can also show your support by making a donation. Many individual cities have their own Pride organizations with websites that list their events and donation options (San Diego and Boston being two big ones). The Human Rights Campaign is another big charity that includes 1.5 million members and supporters fighting for equality. While all organizations appreciate financial donations at all times, June is definitely an amazing month to show your support.
Images: Michael Dodge/Getty Images; Karen Belz
