Same-sex marriage /r/dataisbeautiful

Every month for 2018 the reddit /r/dataisbeautiful is hosting a data visualization challenge! Each challenge features a new dataset that users get the chance to be creative with, all for a chance to earn "Reddit Gold". To my delight, February's challenge was all about same-sex marriage in the US! A dataset originally from Pew Research Center contained the legal status of all 50 states from 1995 - 2015.

The winner came from /u/SonicJalopy with a  stacked column chart and a colored map that changes over time.

It's definitely well made, and watching the stacked column charts cycle through really tells the overall story, with the state map available to dive into the specifics.

My absolute favorite submissions came from Aaron Penne - Hands. Down. The one that got an honorable mention was their take on a violin plot to show the shift over time. 

I love how this simple blob can tell us so much about the road to legalization - aka the backlash (in the form of bans) in the years leading up nationwide legalization. I think Aaron's 2nd submission in the form of a ridgeline plot shows this even more

I still find it surprising the number of states that implemented bans. I understand it was partly politics, which, many feelings ... But what a journey in just 20 years!

/u/maryzam also had a unique take on the data, and earned an honorable mention for their visualization.

It is really cool, I love how it allows you to see the trajectory (shape) for different states. Kind of makes me want to see the blobs by region, political makeup, etc! My only critique is how they assigned hierarchy to the categories - making statutory bans a darker red than constitutional bans. Constitutional law actually has higher authority than statutory law, so constitutional bans were pursued as a way to "further protect the institution of marriage". I agree more with the previous ordering of constitutional ban, statutory ban, no law, legalization. But still A+ for a stellar dataviz!

Another honorable mention from /u/FeCr2O4 was just mesmerizing to look at.

 I don't know why it is so calming to watch the states fly into different bins, but i love it!

So, these were my personal favorite submissions, but there were many other valiant efforts! Feel free to check them out in the comments of the competition thread! OR even give the challenge a whirl yourself! Competition data curated by /u/zonination can be found here.

On a side note, the subject matter reminded me of a 2015 piece from Bloomberg illustrating the "Pace of Social Change". They looked at 6 major social issues in American history (interracial marriage, prohibition, women’s suffrage, abortion, same-sex marriage, and recreational marijuana), considering each's journey to legalization. In the same-sex marriage case, the outcome is very similar to the reddit challenge:

However, they went a bit further, adding in more context about the court decisions and/or major events triggering an eventual change in federal law. They showed that the length of time between this "trigger event" and legalization was shortening - which to them suggested that recreational marijuana should become nationally legal even faster. We will see!

As a 2nd sidenote, because I think it should be said as much and as loud as possible - 

Gay Marriage should have never been the priority for the LGBTQ+ movement. Yes, those rights are important, but largely benefited an already privileged subset of the community - who afterward were not as motivated to fight for the issues others are still facing (job/housing/healthcare discrimination, homelessness, violence, etc.). Now that transgender and gender-nonconforming people have become the new political scapegoat, it is even more important that we have all sexual and gender minorities (SGM) and allies engaged and united in the fight for progress and equality.

But, alas, this is about the 2^nd or 3^rd  post I’ve had related to SSM, so I guess I appreciate it from a data perspective 🙂