Today in emoji news, Android users have discovered a hidden transgender flag emoji. There are people who use Androids? You learn something every day!
According to Emojipedia, Android users have discovered a sequence that combines the white flag emoji and the “Male with Stroke and Male and Female Sign” Unicode character. When pasted together into WhatsApp, they create the blue, pink, and purple Transgender Pride Flag. The combination doesn’t work on Apple devices, only on Androids, and only on WhatsApp.
In the past, trans people have had to make due with stand-in pride emojis like the lobster, which was nominated for Emoji of the Year by the American Dialect Society after being “adopted by [the] trans community.” Yes, lobsters are trans. It’s canon. Many seemed to prefer a lobster as the symbol for trans pride in place of the actual trans pride flag, which is...polarizing. “The trans flag is an abomination,” writer Andrea Long Chu told Out. “[It] looks like the banner of a nationalist party for children six and under.”
The emergence of the trans flag emoji comes weeks after another, less friendly functionality with emojis was discovered. In February, the anti-LGBTQ+ emoji, which combines a strikethrough symbol and a rainbow flag, went viral. Emojipedia founder Jeremy Burge explained that the homophobic emoji (homophomoji?) was “not a glitch,” explaining that it is “literally how that character works in combo with any emoji or character.”
In more positive emoji news, nonbinary and interracial couples have recently been added to the animated lineup. When it comes to queer emojis, you win some, you lose some.
RELATED | UPDATE: Viral Anti-Pride Flag Emoji Is Not a Glitch, Says Emoji Expert
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