Amidst some of the more alarmist news revolving around Facebook (Privacy settings! News feed changes! Hackers!), there's good news for same-sex couples looking to validate their relationships on the site.

Facebook quietly added two new options -- "in a civil union" and "in a domestic partnership" -- as relationship statuses. Word of the change started spreading virally through tweets and status updates this afternoon.

Why is it significant? For same-sex couples living in a state where gay marriage isn't recognized, something as small as a Facebook relationship status can symbolize the various types of relationships its users are in. Before, it had been narrowed to "single," "in an open relationship," "in a relationship," "married," "divorced," "widowed" or "separated."

Oh yeah, and "it's complicated." That relationship status spawned a movie of the same name. What could "in a civil union" spark?

Facebook has shown its support for LBGT rights in the past

, which encouraged anti-bullying of gay teens.