This undated illustration provided by Tinder/Emojination shows new variations of interracial emoji couples. In the world of emojis, interracial couples had virtually no options in terms of skin tone. But the emoji gods, otherwise known as the Unicode Consortium, recently rectified that, approving 71 new variations. Using six skin tones already available for one-person emojis, vendors such as Apple, Google and Microsoft will now be able to offer couples of color. Additions are expected later this year. (Tinder/Emojination via AP) In the world of emojis, interracial couples had virtually no options in terms of skin tone. But the emoji gods, otherwise known as the Unicode Consortium, recently rectifed that, approving 71 new variations. Using six skin tones already available for one-person emojis, vendors such as Apple, Google and Microsoft will now be able to offer couples of color.
The additions are expected later this year. The effort was spearheaded by the dating app Tinder, starting a year ago. Technically, the emojis involved are referred to as two people "holding hands. A new "gender-inclusive" couple emoji was also approved among 230 new characters.
The skin tones will be available for vendors to incorporate into their keyboards and on their platforms for both same-sex and mixed-gender couple emojis.
Explore further: Female doctors, scientists, welders among 11 new emojis
