Early today, the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority did what any proud new parent would do: Post a picture of her newborn baby on Twitter. Of course, the MTA isn’t just for any parent, and its new baby is something unique too — a train R211is set to commence service on the city’s line A.
But one of the four photos posted by the MTA jammed Twitterati. It shows the interior of a carriage on a new train, full of pride flags related to timebut there is a curious omission: The switching colors of the flags could not be found.
The specific Pride flags displayed on the screen in the carriage are Design Progress Pride – a modern update to Gilbert Baker flag six (originally eight) stripes, added a V to represent POCs and transgender people. In T’s MTAWitter photo, the black and brown Vs are still present, but the pink, blue, and white colors have mysteriously disappeared.
However, Jalopnik contacted the MTA and learned that the photo was simply an example of inappropriate timing. The pride flags in the new R211 train are animated, and the photo on Twitter captures them as the Vs are flying across the screen – the gradients simply haven’t appeared yet. The animation, in its full form, looks like this:
Every color of the Proud Progressive flag is represented on the trains’ screens, both in the flag’s animation as well as the heart surrounding the MTA symbol at the end. The Twitter photo may not capture everything, but the entire animation doesn’t remove any part of the Progress Pride design. Whether the animated pride flags on the subway trains are to be appreciated as a recognition of the diversity of NYC public transit riders or simply a vague gesture on behalf of any one of them. Any meaningful improvement to the lives of gay New Yorkers is up for debate in and of itself. But, at least the new trains don’t wipe out any members of the community.
