Defending these rights also brought many of us a greater understanding of all of the different ways these fights overlapped.įour years later, Pride month feels very different in America and across the world. With the election of President Trump - and the support of the divisive rhetoric that came with his platform-came four more years of fighting for trans rights, gay rights, the rights of the Black community, Indigenous people, and non-Black people of color. Unbeknownst to me and the rest of the world, the next four years would bring seismic shifts to the way spoke about LGBTQ rights and the way they intersect with other disenfranchised communities. Four years ago, I acknowledged that although focusing on emojis as activism may seem silly, representation is important, and I still hold that to be true. I designed several new emojis based on my knowledge of queer history. The country was still in mourning following the horrific Pulse night club shooting in Orlando, Florida, a city I had lived in for eight years prior to moving to New York, and I wanted to do anything I could to help with LGBTQ representation. The Rainbow flag emoji was only added in 2016. I decided, with the support and encouragement of the editors, to write a piece for Pride month about the then-lack of inclusion of LGBTQ emojis on the iPhone. I was immediately taken by the actions of my peers and wanted to get involved. It was my first job in media, and I was immediately impressed by the level of political and social involvement displayed by my new colleagues - even then, Bustle’s writers and editors were using Bustle’s huge audience and platform to publish messages of diversity and inclusion. I started as a senior designer at Bustle four years ago, in the summer of 2016.