Texas lawmaker wants people to think twice before posting flag emoji's

A resolution filed in the legislature asks Texans to be pickier about which emoji’s they use.

According to HCR 75 many people use the Chilean flag on social media when they are referring to Texas and one Texas lawmaker wants that to stop.

It's hard to believe that anyone in the State of Texas isn't familiar with the Lone Star flag.

“Well, being in Texas you see the Texas flag every minute of every day,” said Molly Kuchar who now lives in Texas. 

Still, many on social media continue to get it wrong.
               
“I actually saw a friend that posted the Chile flag for Texas and then I was like okay that's the Chile flag,” said Luiz Garcia who also lives in Texas. 

As we found out, it can be confusing even for Texans, but one Texas lawmaker is hoping to clear up the issue on social media.

“I thought to myself, ‘I think they know the difference, but maybe they don't.’ And then I thought, ‘Even if they do know the difference, they're using the wrong flag,’” said Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress.

That's why he filed the resolution in the Texas House on Thursday.

“This would be a good way, a sort of lighthearted way, to draw attention to the issue and remind everybody what our flag looks like, what the nation of Chile’s flag looks like and the fact that there is no emoji for the Lone Star flag,” Oliverson said. 

It's possible his tongue-in-cheek resolution will be one of the few that unites all members of the House and Senate.

“In a session where we have a lot of very serious issues that we're working through and we're working on, we thought this might be an opportunity and bipartisan way to get a smile out of everybody and just say, ‘Yup, this is something we can all agree on,’” said Oliverson. 

The legislation won't create any laws or penalties for using the wrong flag emoji in tweets, texts and posts, but Oliverson hopes it will be a teachable moment for all Texans.

“People should consider that if they're going to tweet out about how much they love their state, it might not be a good idea to immediately follow that with the flag of another country,” Oliverson said.

There are third party applications you can download on your cellphone to have access to a Texas flag emoji, but state flags don't come standard.