De regenboogvlag emoji was er in 2016 nog niet en dat vond ik raar. Ik heb toen uitgezocht hoe je ervoor kon zorgen dat die emoji er kwam. Mijn aanvraag werd goedgekeurd en nu heeft iedereen dit LGBTQ-symbool in broekzak en tas!

Mijn actie kreeg veel
MEDIA-Aandacht.

Lees hieronder het hele verhaal.

🏳️‍🌈 Nederlands

Een Regenboogvlag Emoji!

De regenboogvlag is sinds eind jaren '70 het internationale symbool van de LHBT-gemeenschap. In de zomer van 2016 realiseerde ik mij dat er nog steeds geen regenboogvlag emoji beschikbaar was. Spontaan stuurde ik hierover een tweet aan Twitter. Maar natuurlijk gaat Twitter niet over de emojis... 😄

Officieel Unicode verzoek

Na wat research kwam ik erachter dat je een official emoji character proposal moest indienen bij het Unicode Consortium. Op 25 juni 2016 richtte ik mijn verzoek aan Unicode.

👉  Het officiële verzoek voor de regenboogvlag emoji (pdf)
👉  Hoe moet je een verzoek bij Unicode indienen?

Ik ontving een ontvangstbevestiging van Unicode via e-mail. Volgens the process and timeline of the UTC moest ik nu: wachten.

Online petitie

Ondertussen vertelde Mathew Shurka uit New York mij via Facebook dat hij een online petitie was gestart. En dat iemand anders precies een jaar eerder (in juni 2015) een verzoek aan Unicode had gericht, dat toen was afgewezen.

Toekenning

Het door mij ingediende verzoek resulteerde samen met de online petitie in een toekenning door Unicode! Dit werd op 19 juli 2016 aangekondigd (pdf) door Unicode President Mark Davis. Mijn official proposal van 25 juni 2016 staat hierin genoemd.

De officiële emoji update staat gepland voor juni 2017, maar de regenboogvlag emoji zal al eerder worden ingevoerd: in het najaar van 2016!

🏳️‍🌈 English

A Rainbow Flag Emoji!

The rainbow flag has been an international symbol of the LHBT community since the late 1970s. I had missed a rainbow flag emoji before, but in the summer of 2016 I realised there was still no rainbow flag emoji available. I spontaneously addressed Twitter. Of course Twitter does not decide the emoji’s... 😄

Official Unicode proposal

After some research, I found out that you should submit an official emoji character proposal to the Unicode Consortium. I submitted my proposal on June 25, 2016.

👉  The official proposal for the rainbow flag emoji (pdf)
👉  How to submit a proposal to Unicode

I received a confirmation email from Unicode and regarding the process and timeline of the UTC. I expected all we had to do now was: wait.

Online petition

Meanwhile, a guy from NYC, Mathew Shurka, approached me through Facebook to tell me he had setup an online petition. He also knew that someone submitted a proposal for this emoji a year earlier, in June 2015, which had then been declined.

Approval

The proposal I submitted and the online petition finally resulted in an approval from Unicode, which was announced (pdf) by Unicode President Mark Davis on July 19, 2016! My proposal of June 25th, 2016 is mentioned in this announcement.

The official emoji update is planned for June 2017, but the rainbow flag emoji will be implemented earlier, as expected by the end of 2016!

More info

👉 Press release (pdf, in Dutch)
👉 PR for Twitter: Glasnost
👉 Amsterdam Pride organisation

Why do you call it a rainbow flag 'in the Flags section'?
- Since it should be a flag, like the other flags in that section, instead of a rainbow like this existing emoji: 🌈

Why is the rainbow emoji 🌈 not suitable?
- Because the rainbow flag is an international symbol of the gay community since the late 70's. 👉 Read more about the rainbow flag here

Why do we need a rainbow flag emoji? Straight people don't need one either!
- Well, yeah, that would be awesome! That LGBT-people wouldn't need a symbol for their historic fight against discrimination and for emancipation and equal rights. But alas... Besides, if you needed to stand up for your rights somehow, I would support you too.

But wait... Sometimes I see a rainbow flag like emoji on Twitter? 🤔
- With a special script, Twitter can make an occasional 'emoji' that will show when you use a specific #hashtag. However very sympathetic, these are not real emoji's. Why not? Well, a real emoji is created by the Unicode Consortium and is visible across all platforms, in all apps. So we want a rainbow flag emoji for eternity and for all platforms worldwide from... Unicode.

More about the Rainbow Flag Emoji: emojipedia.org/rainbow-flag

Dutch: Hoe wordt bepaald wat voor emoji's erbij komen?
- Leuk artikel van NOS op 3

Related

🌎  LGBT National Monument
President Barack Obama announced June 24th 2016 that he was designating the area around the Stonewall Inn in New York City as the country's first national monument to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights. So a rainbow flag emoji should have been available already, shouldn't it? 🤔

🌎  Rainbow Apple Watch band
For Pride 2016, Apple gave its employees a rainbow watch band: This limited-edition band is a symbol of our commitment to equality. 😃

🌎  Online petition and declined proposal
On June 26th 2015, gay marriage was legalized in all 50 states of the USA. To commemorate this great day in American history and to honor all the LGBT couples out there, Colton Price started an online petition for a rainbow flag emoji. Also, Noah Slater submitted a proposal to the Unicode Consortium, but that proposal was unfortunately declined... 🙄

🌎  New petition and video by Mathew Shurka
After all the media attention for my proposal, Mathew Shurka contacted me through Facebook on June 29, 2016 and told me about an online petition he started and a definitely must-see video he made. You should watch it too 👇 because it's awesome!

🌎  The Story of the Rainbow Flag (TIME video)