“Why not create an LGBT flag emoji to honor and support the LGBT community and their fight for recognition and equality worldwide?” legalization of gay marriage was a huge step for LGBT rights, but the community still has far to go,” read the petition statement. Just days after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in July 2015, a petition went out asking Unicode to add the rainbow flag emoji. According to Techcrunch, the initial beta went out to developers first, but should hit phones linked to the Apple Beta Software Program-which anyone can sign up for-in a few days. The beta status means there isn’t a pride flag, female weightlifter, or butch basketball forward on your phone just yet it is likely to arrive in the fall when the iOS 10 is made available to the public. Many of the new emoji came in response to petitions and pressure Apple billed the new emoji as “more gender diverse” after women’s rights advocates had called for emoji that showed women in professional roles and athletics.
After years of asking, demanding, petitioning, and tweeting at Apple and Unicode about adding an LGBT pride flag to the emoji lineup, it arrived on Monday alongside 99 other new designs in an iOS 10 beta rollout.
