Apple Finally Debuts Transgender Pride Flag Emoji
Get ready to fire off some π₯ trans-inclusive text messages, because the transgender Pride flag emoji has arrived.
Apple has released its iOS 14.2 update for the iPhone and iPad. The update includes new wallpapers, HomePod features, bug fixes, and more than 100 new emojis. Among those new emojis are a trans Pride flag, a symbol representing the intersex community, and a gender-fluid bride and groom.
As NewNowNext reported in January, more than 100 new emojis were approved for Emoji v13.0 by Unicode Consortium, the tech group that sets the industry standard for emoji options across different platforms and devices. Among those additions was a trans Pride flag emoji, meant to resemble trans activist Monica Helmsβ iconic design with five stripes: two blue, two pink, and one white. A rainbow LGBTQ Pride flag was added back in 2016.
In addition to the trans Pride flag, the new batch of emojis also includes a rollerskate, a boomerang, a dodo, and a tea kettleβwhich we will probably be using a lot, TBH.
"We separate people into different 'kinds' of people, but the kind thing to do is to see everyone as our kin," Paul Hunt, the designer behind Unicode's first gender-inclusive emoji, told Mashable. "I hope the work I'm doing... is helping us to be able to see that we're all more similar than we are different."
If you're an iPhone user, the update should be available for you now. Happy texting!