Apple has announced its new mobile operating system for iPhones and iPads will include gay and lesbian ’emojis’.

People will now be able to text icons of same-sex couples holding hands, reports The Register.

Other options include pictures of a boy and girl kissing, a straight family and a girl in a bridal dress.

Strangely, however, the new gay emojis are the only figures not smiling.

Emojis originated in Japan and were launched for Apple’s iOS in version 5 as successors to emoticons.

In December, it was claimed Siri, the new iPhone 4S ‘virtual assistant’ app you can talk to, was anti-gay.

When GSN, acting on a tip-off from a reader, asked it ‘Siri, why are you anti-gay?’ it responded with ‘I am what I am’. (There was no evidence that it was channeling Gloria Gaynor.)

Then when asked ‘Siri, are you homophobic?’ the electronic assistant seemed to dodge the question, responding ‘We were talking about you, not me.’