Instagram Adds New Custom Gender Options For User Profiles In Honor Of Pride

In honor of Pride Month, Instagram is adding new options for the way that users’ genders are displayed on their public profiles.

Currently, profiles can only showcase one of three options: ‘male’, ‘female’, and ‘not specified’. But in an update rolling out this week, Fast Company reports, Instagram users will be able to select a new ‘custom’ option, with which they can  type out their gender identity in any way that they see fit. For instance, a screen grab shared on Instagram’s blog

appears to show a suggestion for ‘gender nonconforming’. Instagram wrote that it is making the changes so that the platform will be “more inclusive and reflective of how people self-identify today.”

Parent company Facebook made a similar move all the way back in 2014, unveiling dozens of gender identity options for users to choose from.

Instagram has a number of other Pride-related initiatives set to launch this month. The company has released a guide to online well-being specifically tailored to LGBTQ+ teens, created in partnership with The Trevor Project — a suicide prevention nonprofit. And in collaboration with GLAAD, the company has identified popular hashtags — such as #LGBTQ, #BornPerfect, #EqualityMatters, #AccelerateAcceptance, and #Pride2019 — which will automatically be displayed using a rainbow gradient. When the aforementioned hashtags appear in Stories, the Story ring will also turn rainbow for up to 24 hours.

Lastly, Instagram will be initiating a platform-wide hashtag campaign dubbed #UntoldPride that will aim to honor the stories of lesser-known figures in LGBTQ+ history, such as trans revolutionaries Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. And in New York, Instagram has partnered with the @LGBT_History account to unveil 10 installations that will shine a spotlight on lesser-known figures, places, and movements.