We might still be waiting for the rainbow flag emoji on iPhone, but it seems that finally someone has given us the power to react to everything with pride.

Facebook have announced that for the month of June, to coincide with London’s annual Pride (24 June) the platform will allow users to ‘react’ to statuses and posts with a multicoloured flag.

Mark Zuckerberg’s platform made a statement on Friday, saying: “We believe in building a platform that supports all communities. So we’re celebrating love and diversity this Pride by giving you a special reaction.”

The (awesome) flag joins the pre-existing reactions – thumbs up, love heart, laughter, shock, sadness and anger.

But to be honest with a flag to hand we could easily lose the other emotions.

The feature is available across the UK right now, but don’t worry if you can’t see it yet. In order to spam everyone with some virtual LGBT loving, you will need to go to Facebook’s official LGBT page and give it a like.

This will then activate the feature on your personal page, although you might have to logout and back in again to ensure it is working properly. 

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The flag, which has become synonymous with the gay community, was first created in 1978 by activist and artist Gilbert Baker, who died in March at 65-years-old. 

Baker, who was born in Kansas, designed the first rainbow flag in 1978 after he was approached by San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk to create a symbol for the LGBTQ community.

Just months before his assassination, Milk rode in the city’s June pride parade under Baker’s original flag, which featured eight colored stripes: hot pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, indigo and violet.

The original design changed to the iconic, six-barred rainbow flag in 1979.

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