A supposed new anti-LGBTQ emoji caused an uproar on social media. But the symbol doesn’t actually exist as an official emoji.
The emoji shows the “no” symbol, also known as the prohibition sign, over the LGBTQ flag. People shared screengrabs of the emoji on Twitter.
WHY IS THERE AN ANTI GAY FLAG EMOJI... IM SCREAMING ?️?⃠ ?️?⃠ ?️?⃠ ??? pic.twitter.com/PikdyxJAvn
— rossssssssssssssssss (@rossleonardy) February 19, 2019
https://twitter.com/dykealectics/status/1097736261924618240
*New anti gay emoji exists*
— Trig (@Triggerologyy) February 19, 2019
Straight ppl: pic.twitter.com/Sq8ANUgn6O
Everyone can breathe at least a little sigh of relief because the "anti-LGTBQ" image isn't an official emoji. Emojipedia, the world’s emoji dictionary, explained on Twitter that it was user-created.
If you have seen tweets like this and assume this is an official emoji; it’s merely combining two existing characters. Nothing new, and can be done with any emoji pic.twitter.com/S3tu7Wm4qD
— Emojipedia (@Emojipedia) February 19, 2019
The "no" symbol can be applied to any emoji on platforms that support it. Allowing a prohibition sign to be easily combined with other emojis makes sense for creating a lot of useful symbols, like no smoking, or no peanuts, or no kids.
The Unicode character ⃠ U+20E0 COMBINING ENCLOSING CIRCLE BACKSLASH is programmed to appear over the top of the previous character (on supported systems). E.g.: ?⃠ no chocolate, ?⃠ no babies, or ?⃠ no fun https://t.co/BGy54mJJoK pic.twitter.com/KvG6dJQsxO
— Emojipedia (@Emojipedia) February 19, 2019
Some queer people are embracing the manufactured anti-LGBTQ emoji with jokes and irony, in typical internet fashion.
https://twitter.com/YvngNateCDXX/status/1097953829105086465
iphones: *creates anti gay emoji*
— raccoon ??Ⓐ? (@goblinrats) February 19, 2019
homophobes: finally, we’re gonna piss off the gays!
the gays: ?️?⃠?️?⃠?️?⃠hehehe ?️?⃠?️?⃠?️?⃠ haha antigay this is so funny ?️?⃠?️?⃠?️?⃠
me online: ?️??️??️?
— Luis ⸆⸉ (@SwiftLuis) February 19, 2019
me with my parents: ?️?⃠ ?️?⃠ ?️?⃠
https://twitter.com/KobyChen/status/1098018672008867840
Twitter user @mioog, who goes by Mitchell, says he found the code in January and was shocked by it. Mitchell is gay and says he’s embraced the ironic humor, but worries about the homophobes who are using the symbol as well. “I’ve been embracing it, but it’s also dangerous for people to use it hatefully,” he said to Out.
Some people are also getting tired of the fake hate symbol, even when used ironically by their peers. While some people can interact with the symbol in a fun and ironic way, for others it represents something painful, regardless of who is using it.
https://twitter.com/ateezcore/status/1097735764312580097
https://twitter.com/primenin/status/1097913187352104960
If you're tired of the anti-gay emoji, the good news is there are lots of even more hilarious anti-emoji combinations you can make. And if you see a homophobe using the anti-rainbow flag symbol, you can always respond with this:
https://twitter.com/kekryn/status/1098007599990005760
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