Every year, the world gets new emojis. And every year, slowly but surely, they get more queer.
This year’s update to the Emojipedia could see the addition of “pregnant man” and “pregnant person,” a step forward in reflecting the diversity of people who can experience pregnancy. We could also see “person in a crown,” which I would exclusively use to signal my non-binary superiority over you peasants.
The newest potential emojis follow other banner additions from previous years, like the rainbow flag, the trans flag and gender-diverse pairings of various little cartoon people.
Now, nothing is for sure—the list released last week for World Emoji Day is tentative, and will be finalized in September. But according to a blog post from Emojipedia, we can expect more gender-diverse options on our phone keyboards and social media in the near future.
We love to see it. If you ask me, the more that queer and trans people can express ourselves and our lives through tiny digital pictures, the better. That said, there’s still work to be done. Turns out there isn’t an emoji for every facet of the queer experience. But why can’t there be?
May I present my humble proposal for the 12 queer and trans emojis we need now.
All of the other flags
We’ve got the rainbow flag 🏳️🌈 and the trans flag , which is great. But anyone else who wants to show off a specific aspect of their queer identity is stuck resorting to a DIY flag emoji of coloured hearts. It’s fine, but I would love to have more character space to talk about being non-binary, rather than just spelling it out in a combination of yellow, black, white and purple hearts 💛🖤💜🤍.
U-Haul
We’re basically there, just give the little truck 🚚 an orange and white paint job and you have the perfect one-character pick-up line for lesbians everywhere.
Poppers
Give the party gays — and Michelle Rempel Garner — what they want!
Person struggling to get out of their binder
Folks, sometimes it’s a struggle. I need to see my life reflected, and have a quick and easy way to explain why I was late to that thing that one time (I was fighting for my life against a piece of constrictive spandex!).
T for T height difference relationship
Short kings and tall queens need representation in media and emojis.
Throuple
Right now, people in poly relationships are forced to use the “family” groupings and relegate one member to the child character 👨👨👦. Give us the three-way or four-way relationships we need, without the weird insinuation that one is a literal baby.
Rainbow bank
The world needs an emoji to adequately represent corporate Pride, so what better than a rainbow bank?
Drag performers
The dancing lady emoji 💃 is just so boring measured against the scale, the fabulousness and the beauty of today’s top drag performers. We need an emoji—heck, a series of emojis—to show off what drag is and can be.
Iced coffee
No queer person is complete without it!
Cuffed pant leg
For the bisexuals out there.
Kink paraphernalia
Forget the “no kink at Pride” discourse —give me more kink in my emojis! A leather puppy mask, some fuzzy handcuffs, a whip… we need it all!
Dyke on a bike
There’s already a person a bicycle emoji and a motorbike emoji; now we need to combine them with a dash of butch swagger.
Why you can trust Xtra
