If you thought this movement might at least open doors for other gender and sexuality representations, think again. Of course, if you followed the movement to get a trans pride flag approved by Unicode, the story of the bisexual pride flag emoji will sound familiar. The trans flag took several years of submissions, a team of dedicated activists, and devoted media pressure before it was included in the official 2020 emoji additions. It’s the same case for the bisexual flag. The battle for a trans pride flag emoji shows what it takes to get LGBTQ representation in emojis. But considering petitioners for the emoji have made it clear that a lack of bisexual representation contributes to the mental health problems of this group, it’s possible that Unicode and bisexual activists have a different definition of what “compelling evidence” means. This may explain Unicode’s unwillingness to concentrate their efforts on this category. What Unicode does recommend for approval is making group submissions and offering compelling evidence. According to statistics compiled by Unicode, flags are among the least used emojis. The organization definitely favors statistical evidence. Nor do they pay much attention to petitions. The Unicode website states: “The submission and selection process isn’t affected by simple suggestions, nor by petitions, nor by letters/tweets from celebrities/government officials.”
So what makes a good proposal? Unfortunately for the LGBTQ community, representation and political correctness is not a huge concern of Unicode. Vendors including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, and Facebook don’t have their say until proposals are approved by Unicode. They are reviewed by a handful of individuals on the Emoji Subcommittee in the early months of each year. Anyone can submit an idea but there are strict criteria for each proposal. Unicode takes submissions from the general public. The journey of an emoji from idea to something you can use in your texts is a lengthy one. So why did Unicode reject the bisexual pride flag? Emoji proposals have a lot of hoops to jump through. A long but successful battle to have trans pride flag emoji was won this year.
We’ve come a long way from the days of only heterosexual couple emojis and no gender-neutral emojis. In fact, the organization has paused emoji proposals until April 2021 which could greatly impact the future of LGBTQ emoji requests. Marino subsequently launched a petition in November to encourage Unicode to change their decision. The petition has amassed over 15,000 signatures in the past month but there is still no response from Unicode.
Unicode Consortium, the organization that governs internationally recognized symbols, turned down a proposal submitted by tech engineer and bisexual activist Tanner Marino early in 2020.