June 2018 update: Why isn’t there a Transgender Pride Flag Emoji?

These tweets still cross the wire.

The answer to the question in the post is – “I don’t know”

Not much has changed since I last spoke about this aspect of the unicode standard (My Thoughts on Emoji Recently Added, v11.0, without #Transvisibility, without full #LGBTQ inclusion). The short version of that post is “They were able to add luggage, but not a transgender pride flag.”

Here’s our proposal, still waiting to be acted on, for reference:

https://www.tedeytan.com/2018/03/12/22476/embed/

Well, a few things have changed –

Apple’s own Emoji Proposal – it’s gorgeous

https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2018/18080-accessibility-emoji.pdf

Wow. Really impressive what a company with the resources of Apple can do to follow a process that it is engaged indirectly in creating. The proposal is as beautiful and complete as a new mobile device produced by the company.

Unfortunately, the average citizen probably can’t produce something as gorgeous. We did our best (see: Transgender Pride Flag Emoji Submission for inclusion in the Unicode Standard for 2019 (Update 11: Submitted, March, 2018)).

I think it’s pretty good, and it has global representation of authors. We’ve been reached out to from time to time to see if any assistance can be provided. My response has been “help me understand the process.”

Pride 2018 in the United States – A bigger turnout for transgender pride flags than ever

The proposal for a new emoji character has several requirements, meant to ensure that a new character is distinct, recognized, and non-duplicative.

Here are photos from Washington, DC’s 2018 Capital Pride parade (@CapitalPrideDC). There has never been, in our city’s history, this visibility for this symbol. And note that it’s shown with/next to, not instead of, the rainbow pride flag.

2018.06.09 Capital Pride Parade, Washington, DC USA 03168
2018.06.09 Capital Pride Parade, Washington, DC USA 03168 (View on Flickr.com)
2018.06.09 Capital Pride Parade, Washington, DC USA 03108
2018.06.09 Capital Pride Parade, Washington, DC USA 03108 (View on Flickr.com)
2018.06.09 Capital Pride Parade, Washington, DC USA 03118
2018.06.09 Capital Pride Parade, Washington, DC USA 03118 (View on Flickr.com)
2018.06.09 Capital Pride Parade, Washington, DC USA 03304
2018.06.09 Capital Pride Parade, Washington, DC USA 03304 (View on Flickr.com)

Comparing our proposal to the one created for the Rainbow Flag

Adding RAINBOW FLAG to Unicode

This was produced in 2015, essentially via email, and approved.

The transgender pride flag emoji, following the comprehensive process, has not been approved.

That’s what I know.

Comments welcome. You can review all the posts on this blog about the proposal here.

There are many more photos of the future in this post, feel free to review:

Photos from the Future: Capital Pride, Washington, DC USA

Ted Eytan, MD