iOS 6 includes emojis featuring gay and lesbian couples

“The newest version of Apple’s iPhone comes with brand new emojis, which are emoticons often used when texting and e-mailing,” Kaylie Moise reports for Macgasm.

“For the first time, gay and lesbian couples are being represented in iOS 6,” Moise reports. “Placed beside the already existing heterosexual couple and heterosexual couple with a son are these two new emoticons. The first features two men holding hands and the second shows two women also holding hands.”

Moise reports, “The only question is: why don’t the gay and lesbian couples have facial expressions, or a child in tow?”

iOS 6 homosexual couple emoticons
iOS 6 includes emoticons depicting gay and lesbian partners

 
Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lava_Head_UK” for the heads up.]

Related articles:
Microsoft, Apple in the hot seat over anti-gay link – September 26, 2011
Apple pulls iTunes Store affiliation from Christian Values Network – July 28, 2011
Apple pulls ‘ex-gay’ app from iTunes App Store – March 23, 2011
Gawker’s Valleywag outs Tim Cook as ‘most powerful gay man in Silicon Valley’ – January 21, 2011
Christian Group asks Apple to reinstate pulled ‘Manhattan Declaration’ iPhone app – November 30, 2010
California’s Prop. 8 passes despite Apple’s public opposition, $100,000 donation – November 5, 2008
Apple donates $100,000 to fight same-sex marriage ban in California (Proposition 8) – October 24, 2008
Survey: Apple among top six gay-friendly brands in U.S. – May 14, 2008
Apple Computer gets perfect score for gay-friendliness – September 20, 2006

123 Comments

        1. Yeah! Take that homophobes! Your new Apple God is GAY, and all the money you spend on your ipads, iphones, ipods, imacs goes into the pockets of GAYS! Mmmm! Lick it!

    1. All Emojis are by definition inheirantly gay
      .

      Now just waiting for the typical knee-jerk tollerant liberal responses…

      Got to admit, I don’t mind watching too hot lesbos going at it!

        1. Can’t blame spell check for it. Spell check would have substituted “inherently” for your “inheirantly”.

          Inheirantly df: The quality of not having an heir?

    2. Because they’re not gay or heterosexual. They’re simply two people of the same gender holding hands. Holding hands is common outside of North America and is a sign of friendship. Apple is an international company.

        1. Dave, it’s not necessary to demonstrate evidence. It is something that even YOU intrinsically recognize. Not even YOU simply live in a “material” world. Because if you did, what do you do with the biological fact that you have a “turnover” of cells every 84 months. You are PHYSICALLY, LITERALLY, MATERIALLY a different person biologically.

          And yet if you’re married you don’t have to “renew” you marriage license. When you purchase something, you are the owner permanently until you sell it. You don’t have to “renew” ownership and if you have committed a criminal act that warrants prison time, sentences are not only limited to that person’s biological reality. BECAUSE we all recognize that there is SOMETHING METAPHYSICAL about who we are and our identities are not just material. You can deny it all you want but you’re living in hypocrisy if you do.

  1. “Why don’t the gay and lesbian couples have facial expressions”

    Because they can’t get married (in the US) … They are not equals and therefor not yet happy.

  2. Personally it doesn’t bother me how they want to depict gay and lesbian couples, but the iPhone music app in iOS 6 has been drained of all color. WTF? Come on, this takes blandness to a new level. Why must everything be greyed out? Jesus. Do we live in a grey world? Does color not mean anything any more in Apple land? Get your shit together.

    1. The Emojis here are to represent “Together” and has nothing to do with race or religion. And please explain how we all cater to gays and lesbians? They get two Emojis !?

      Skin color, religion, political stance, sexual orientation, nationality, social status, net worth … All of these shouldn’t matter when comes to rights and laws. Plain and simple. Fascism begins when the ignorant status quo feel threatened when those they’ve long oppressed and held in contempt begin to rise in power.

      1. It’s funny how people (like you, Michael), argue that none of these things should matter… until it does. The color of people’s skin shouldn’t matter, until claiming racism suddenly serves a purpose. Sexual preference shouldn’t matter, until you want more emoticons. And, religion shouldn’t matter until you need to bash the latest conservative. Pick a side.

        1. Michael wrote, “All of these shouldn’t matter when comes to rights and laws. Plain and simple.” So, you’re right, it shouldn’t matter until it does… because someone is being discriminated against, persecuted, denied rights, etc. Pretty easy concept. Religion shouldn’t matter either, unless you are trying to impose your religious ideas, ideals, morals, etc. on everyone else, like the latest conservative usually is. Keep religion out of government and government out of religion. Period.

        2. + ∞

          But that will all come to an end in November when we anoint Pope Mitt I as the first religious and political ayatollah of the US.

          “Pope Mitt.” I like that.

    2. Christians a minority? Where did you manufacture that nugget? The latest data I’ve seen shows that somewhere between 59% and 78% percent of US Citizens identify themselves as Christian. How exactly is that a minority again?

      Though I have to admit, Christians (and all those who believe in fairly tales) being a minority is a worthy goal.

      1. Just as not all gays are the same, and not all blacks or hispanics are the same, not all “Christians” are the same. You’re guilty of the same generalizations about people you think you don’t like as any other bigot.

        Some Christians look at their gay brothers and lesbian sisters and see only another child of God, like themselves. Hate gets us nowhere. Love your neighbor is the second greatest commandment.

        1. Granted, Christian is a category that includes a lot of denominations, and taken individually no religion is a majority in the US. But Pirate used the category “Christian.” That was Pirate’s generalization, not Shiva105’s. As a group, Christians are not a minority in the US. That’s a fact. There is no bigotry there (though the comment about fairy tales is another story).

      2. You use “worthy.” How do you define what worthy means and where did that definition come from? Do you mean “good?” Then what makes “good” what value it represents.

        Too many people want the values of “goodness” without honoring the source and commitment of those “good” values. Then some will say “good” is determined by what our society deems “good,” but then not giving thought to other societies which may give “good” values to what we consider “bad” deeds/acts/thoughts.

        I guess what I am trying to say succinctly is that we have to give credit due to the origin of what we consider “good.”

        My only unanswered questioned that I have to rely on faith is “Where did God come from?”

      3. Take attendance and compare to the population. Millions are cultural Christians, but effectively are heathen.

        As a reformed Christian- now Agnostic:
        Welcome, non-believers!

    3. At 78.4% (according to the Pew Forum) Christians are far from a minority in the US. Many have a persecution complex as if they are a minority, but they are not close to being a minority.

      1. FYI, REAL Christians are a minority. The reason we don’t appear to be a minority is because other groups get counted as Christians that aren’t actually Christian. Catholics and Mormons, for example, are groups that claim to be Christian but in reality they are cults.

      2. I think acting persecuted is hard-wired into the Christian way of thinking. Playing the martyr makes them like they have a greater connection to all those early Christians that were apparently nailed up all over the place.

        1. Islam is as much a crock of old wank as Christianity. As is Judaism, Hinduism and every mythological nonsense the human race clings onto rather than facing the reality of death.

          I don’t know where you get the idea of Christians turning the other cheek, mind. Most of them want to impose their nonsense on everyone as well.

      3. Evangelical Christians are the most paranoid bunch on the planet and damn near as thin skinned as the Islamic peeps in Indonesia who punished a man for proclaiming his atheism on Facebook.

        It would be a much better world if all the superstitious people would keep their nonsense within their houses of worship and private homes. Those of us who would like to act as though humanity has learned a few things are quite tired of the bigotry, homophobia and general backwardness of theists of most stripes.

    4. First, unless you work for Apple, I’m not sure how you are claiming “we”. Second, I do not believe there is any evidence that Apple ignores those minorities. Third, Christians are not a minority in the US (sorry for assuming you are from the US) – around 70% of Americans self-dentify as Christian. Atheists. Check. Muslims. Check. Christians. Not check.

  3. Maybe they don’t have children, because they represent brothers and sisters, not necessarily GL couples. Put a mustache on one of the guys and they could represent Click and Clack, who knows. Does it really matter at all?

    I think it’s supposed to be a little information as possible to leave interpretation open, so that its not excessive but inclusive.

    1. You are exactly.

      It works for G&L but just as well for brothers and sisters or simply two friends. To characterize them as PURELY G&L (as in the OP) is absolutely ridiculous IMHO.

    2. Danilko1 is correct. Two guys, for example, can represent friends of long-standing without any sexual connotation at all…or twins, or brothers. But now that those espousing the gay agenda have identified them otherwise, they may never be used for those purposes at all. They could have been interpreted perfectly benignly and much more broadly than is now being restrictively labelled.

      (Sorry that the Tappet Bros are retiring.)

  4. This is a huge step in the wrong direction. Congratulations Apple in alienating most families. That’s what I want from my computer/software maker, a “stand” promoting men having sex with men and women with women. You’re so brave!

    1. so you’re saying that your family feels “alienated” if other types of committed relationships exist?

      I see couples holding hands. You see sex?

      Freud would have a field day with YOU!!

    2. Let the record show that all recent polling indicates that a majority of Americans think gays and lesbians ought to have the right to get married – so much, mac user 47, for your “alienating most families”

      And seriously, how do the two emojis “promote sex?” The represent two people holding hands. From this you make the leap to gay sex? You need to seek help…

      Finally, to all the haters who regularly post on this board: Get a clue – you lost the war with Will & Grace. Time to acknowledge that love between two consenting adults is love, regardless of their sexual orientation. And a bit more human love in the world wouldn’t be a bad thing…

      1. meanwhile… Back in reality…

        What’s the POINT of this exactly? Useful for very, very little. Meanwhile the stock YouTube app has been obsolete and crappy for 18 month, I still have no option to ‘find in page’ in safari, and I have no way of switching default browsers.

        Why couldn’t Apple address some of these more concrete concerns rather than dicking around with some gay-ass emojis that most people will never use (never even see?) in the first place.

        Oh boy Apple! Thanks a bunch!

        1. Nope. Only a majority of people who VOTE keep passing the anti-gay marriage laws. That’s not a majority of Americans.

          Activist judges also ended school segregation, didn’t they? Sometimes the courts have to step in to end unconstitutional practices.

  5. …And so what? What a news!
    If people have other ideas than so called “normal” (crazy and narrow minded morons), let them have the right to be able to use the symbols they like!
    After all, those emojis could also point to brothers or sisters… No? I see nothing sexual there… But, of course, hysteric bigot idiots see “evil” wherever things could light up their blind believes!

  6. Can someone please tell me where you morons are coming from? Do you not have anything better to do than comment on such a minor things as an emoticon.

    Gay/Straight, smile/frown, get the fuck over it and move on… Damn, I thought we were better than this here.

      1. Of course not everyone can be liberal. Someone has to run the wars, after all. And however liberal we may be, we’re still gonna drive our Prius to Starbucks for a frappy, so dammit we need OIL. Lots of it, and as you know, Not Liberals are more superior in every way at pumping filth out of dictatorships. And what about Scarecrow’s brain?
        In conclusion, I love you.

        1. Um, Crissy you are aware that this president, who would consider himself liberal, is RUNNING the “Just War” in Afghanistan right? Come on, you’re too smart to fall for all the “People-Who-Don’t-Agree-With-ME-Are-Morally-Inferior” propaganda aren’t you?

        2. BTW Chrissy, I’m a card carrying Republican, right wing religious, born again bible thumping, Jesus loving believer. See we’re not all that bad. I get as crazy at seeing some of the stuff from our “side” as you do. I apologize for my crazy family, we’re just really dysfunctional, hypocritical, and down right sinful. That’s why we needed help to be in a right standing with God. Hope to continue having wonderful dialog with you & the rest of the gang here on the wide variety of topics we explore here on the supposedly only MacDaily News. Take care.

        3. I carry no cards, other than the one that reads “AWESOME”. I have no problem with religious people – aside from those who think their particular brand of bulls|t is sacred and ‘right’. I tend to pick on them, because it’s so easy and they have so little sense of humor about it. But it’s all in fun from me.

          The reality is – we’re all food for worms. Let’s just try to have some fun before they get us.

          😉

  7. Screw the gays, the straights, and everyone else. Seems like everyone sucks and no one can admit that they suck so they just get pissed at the other sucky people. Screw everyone!

  8. Ummmm… am I the only one that can grasp the obvious?

    Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, is Gay and one of the most powerful people on the planet. What icon do you think he would want on his iPhone?

    1. heheh! I love it!
      and what most people here don’t get (see the idiot comments to follow) is that Apple’s previous CEO was a crazy socialist democrat genius and the current Apple CEO is probably all those things (replace crazy with gay).

  9. Yet again the American-centric point of view comes to the fore. Just to make the point again, the world doesn’t revolve around America, and many, many millions of people honestly couldn’t give a flying fuck about you or your opinions on sex, religion, or, well, pretty much anything, really. If more of you paid attention to global affairs, you’d realise just how much contempt a great deal of the world holds for you. Of course, that won’t happen ‘cos you’ve got your heads shoved so far up your own assholes.

    1. LOL +1

      Reminds me of an episode of American Dad where Stan opens his address book to a cloud of dust and moths:

      Roger the Alien: “OMG, did you see that? Stan has no friends and he doesn’t even know it! He’s like America; the person!”

    1. NO He didn’t he stated his opinion. I have been reading all these posts with my jaw dropped over how many morons are actually on here. I thought for the most part these were educated and informed people. May Bad. I don’t mean to jump down your throat but an opinion is valuable. Judging someone and acting differently toward them is another. More people need to be at least this accommodating , agreed?

  10. “All right, newsies, we need a big headline for today otherwise our decline in site visitors is going to mean more cuts among you. What can you come up with?”

    “Well, boss, I have a friend who’s willing to violate his NDA with Apple and show me what he says are pictures of a gay and lesbian couple amongst all the cute emoji characters.”

    “Go check it out!”

    “Well, what did the pictures look like?”

    “Actually, boss, kind of like school kids holding hands on their way to school. Sorry.”

    “Don’t be sorry! Can you absolutely say they AREN’T gay and or lesbian?”

    “Well, no, but here, look: I grabbed a screen shot.”

    “Perfect! We’re gonna run it — it has all the ambiguity we need to launch a major commentor war. This is priceless! Take the rest of the day off… but keep checking our hit count!”

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