The social media company have since confirmed they have no plans to reintroduce the Pride reaction emoji in 2018. However, as Pride Month began last week on 1 June, fans of the reaction noticed that Facebook hadn’t made it available again. Those who wanted to express their Pride during Pride Month could simply like Facebook’s official LGBTQ page and then the rainbow flag emoji would become available for them to use.Īs well as the community using it to celebrate everything fierce and fabulous about LGBTQ people and their achievements, the reactions were also used to troll anti-gay organisations and figures. The social media giant rolled out the new reaction for the duration of Pride Month in the US, and even extended its availability for other Pride events, including London which takes place in July. Pride Lives On.Last year millions and millions of Pride reactions were sent across Facebook profiles throughout the summer. And the response to Pride is often, “Straight Lives Matter.” Well… straight people should just be glad they aren’t constantly told otherwise. They have been shamed for no reason other than misunderstanding for millennia. Being treated like this applies just as well to LGBTQ individuals. No reminder about “all lives” is necessary, because “all lives” have not been dismissed, discounted, denigrated, denied.ĭismissed. But this response was absurd, too all you have to do is examine how black individuals have been (and are being) treated, and you can see the need to remind everyone that black people are just that: people. Do you remember? Within weeks-maybe days-of the birth of that movement was this response: All Lives Matter. The absurd demand for a cross emoji puts me in mind of a response to another effort: Black Lives Matter. CINOS fail the test almost every time they speak. And the test of everyone else is to love that Christian, even when he fails his test. The Christian test is to love everyone, no matter how uncomfortable someone else’s characteristics make that Christian. CINOs Fail At Their Own ReligionĬINOs fail the test implicit in these verses. The New Testament (Matthew, 22:36-40) quotes Jesus as saying that the two most important commandments are “Love God with everything you are,” and “Love everyone as much as you love yourself.” He adds that all other laws-all other commandments-must bow to these. God cannot create people of the same sex to ever fall in love with one another. “ People took a symbol like the rainbow which means beauty and a non-destructive action and turned it into a destructive sinful symbol.”Īnd then there was this one, ranted by someone who misunderstands nature and thinks they can limit what their own god is capable of doing: To be sure, it seemed as though some people wanted the cross for well-intentioned reasons, but this small voice was completely overwhelmed by statements like this one: As if Christians need new ways to express themselves.” Then I read a Huffpost article about it and saw how much hatred was behind this request, which became more of a demand.
I used it many times, myself.īefore the month was out, a Facebook user began a movement to add another emoji to the list: a Christian cross.
On June 9, in honor of Pride Month and not long after the death of the man who created the original LGBTQ Rainbow Flag ( Gilbert Baker), Facebook introduced a rainbow flag emoji, available alongside the usual icons that appear for responses to posts and messages.