Wahle quoted in Press Herald article on trans community’s adoption of lobster emoji
The Portland Press Herald quoted Rick Wahle, a professor of marine sciences at the University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center, in an article on the transgender community claiming Maine’s new lobster emoji to represent them online. The British group Lobsters Against Transphobia is campaigning for the Unicode Consortium to approve a pink and blue flag emoji to represent transgender people, the Press Herald reports. The pink and blue flag was created by Monica Helms and Ted Eytan in 1999. In the meantime, the group and other supporters of its cause are using the lobster emoji to communicate their message. While some don’t think the trend will catch on in Maine, where lobster is already well established, Luke Holden, the Mainer behind the campaign for the lobster emoji, supports the initiative as a way for the group to advocate for their rights while they await a response from Unicode. Lobsters can be gynandromorphs, meaning they can have both male and female characteristics. Wahle said this phenomenon is rare, but not impossible — an anomaly occurring early in embryonic development. The Sun Journal carried the Press Herald article.