Facebook is adding to its LGBT resumé with a new “Pride” pack that allows users to color their chat messages with rainbows, “same-sex cuddles,” and 28 different emoticons. The “Pride” pack has a caption reading, “Love is universal.”
Facebook’s announcement coincides neatly with Barack Obama’s pronouncement of June as the official Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month.
Here are some of the features in the “Pride” pack: a man dressed in leather who is walking his leather-wearing dog; a lesbian couple with two children; a father embracing his gay son; a disco dancer; and, in a nod to the athletic world, a football player and his boyfriend who is holding a balloon.
A “Facebook Diversity spokesman” exulted, “We’re celebrating Pride by adding these free Facebook Messenger stickers to the Sticker Store. We see this as one more way we can make Facebook a place where people can express their authentic identity. Happy Pride!”
Facebook has been trumpeting its LGBT pride for some time; months ago, it allowed users custom gender options with 50 choices, including trans female, androgynous, and intersex. In May, Facebook apologized for erasing a picture that showed two lesbians kissing.