One portrays the family and text in red in a white background while other two display the symbols in white on a red or blue field. It has three variants, each representing one of the three colors of the flag of Russia. It was created as a response to the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States earlier on the same year. It consists of a woman, a man and their three children with a hashtag saying #НастоящаяCемья ("#RealFamily") below. In 2015, the Russian political party United Russia, of which the then President of Russia Vladimir Putin was then part of, introduced a straight pride flag to be displayed on the Peter and Fevronia Day (also known as the Day of Family, Love and Faithfulness). It originated in the late 2000s, but its exact origin is unknown. The rainbow portion of the flag sometimes takes the form of an "A", representing the word "allies", or an inverted "V". It combines the black and white straight flag with the rainbow LGBT flag.
There is a variation known as the straight ally flag, which represents heterosexual people who support the LGBT community. Another variation with the male and female gender symbols imposed over its field also exists. One uses white, grey and black colors, also mimicking the rainbow flag and originating in the early 2000s. “We know that people in the LGBTQ community are supporting one another worldwide and year-round, which is why we’re making all of these effects available throughout the year.A flag composed of alternating black and white strips, with a design similar to the rainbow LGBT pride flag, was created to represent straight pride. “We know representation and having a community matters - whether that be LGBTQ people sharing photos that can change hearts and minds, or using our products, like Facebook Groups, to find a supportive network. “The LGBTQ community has always been a celebrated part of Facebook,” said Alex Schultz, vice president of growth at Facebook. There are a number of colourful frames for people to use, as well as Pride-themed text posts and rainbow effects.įacebook-owned social media platform Instagram have also rolled out some new Pride features, including stickers and filters. That being said, Facebook have introduced new rainbow features that will be available all year round for people to celebrate Pride.
What’s more, it became apparent that Facebook also hid the function from users in countries where there are anti-gay laws in place.įacebook users in Egypt, Russia, Singapore and Palestine, among many others, did not have access to the Pride reaction emoji on their accounts. Not everyone was happy with the introduction of a Pride reaction last year when it first rolled out across the platform.Īs soon as Gay Times posted a story about the new feature, we were inundated with opposition to it on our Facebook page.Īrguments ranged from the rainbow symbol being stolen from the bible, to the age-old ‘I don’t want your gayness plastered all over the place’. “We are no longer doing custom reactions for major holidays or moments in culture,” Facebook spokesperson Lisa Stratton told Business Insider. 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. Last year millions and millions of Pride reactions were sent across Facebook profiles throughout the summer.