People are using pixel-painting game Wplace to call out transphobia in the UK – and beyond

Activists, allies, and artists of all kinds are using a new browser-based painting game to make a bold visual statement about the UK government’s ongoing rollback of trans rights.

The recently published online pixel-painting game, Wplace, allows users from across the planet to draw on a topographical map of the globe.

Similar to other projects, such as the infamous Reddit experiment, R/Place, users have a grace period between each pixel, meaning that large pixel art projects require multiple people to collaborate in order to complete them, while making it more difficult to ruin or “grief” artwork.

The free-to-play, browser-based title has become an overnight sensation, with countless users flocking to their hometowns or beyond to create pixel art of all kinds.

Several players have used the game as a chance to condemn the UK government’s stance on trans rights, described as “archaic” by Labour MP Nadia Whittome, by drawing multiple trans flags and messages of solidarity around the Houses of Parliament.

At the time of reporting, coordinates 3285, 1080 of the board, where the Palace of Westminster is located, features pixel art of the Elizabeth Tower surrounded by several renditions of the trans Pride flag.

Above the Houses of Parliament is a huge trans Pride banner stretching for 1,689 pixels, from Northolt in North West London to Plashet in East Ham, which features multiple positive trans messages trailing along it.

The influx of pro-trans artwork has been met with nothing but love from the community, especially in the wake of the government’s increasingly controversial statements about trans people.

The Labour Party clarified its position on transgender rights in April after prime minister Keir Starmer declared that he no longer believes trans women are women or that trans men are men.

The statement came following the FWS v Scottish Ministers Supreme Court ruling, which declared the 2010 Equality Act’s definition of women only referred to “biological women.”

The ruling, as well as the government’s response, was met with fury across the UK; a series of initial demonstrations saw thousands march against the landmark case in London and beyond.

Similarly, the pro-trans messaging has made its way beyond London and across the globe on Wplace, with nearly every town and city in the UK featuring at least one or two Pride flags.

In fact, it has become so common to see trans Pride flags that users on the newly created r/WplaceLive subreddit have begun making memes about their prevalence.

One meme, which features a man saluting, writes: “How it feels seeing a bunch of gay and trans flags over your city (in an extremely conservative and religious country.”

Another, ironically, uses a snippet from the film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in which Professor McGonagall remarks that incidents in Hogwarts always involve protagonists Ron, Harry, and Hermione. The meme, however, replaces them with the trans flag, the Brazilian flag, and a pixel rendition of the crewmates from Among Us – all of which are incredibly common across the Wplace map.

It isn’t just the UK government feeling the pixel pressure, either. The White House, home of US president and convicted felon, Donald Trump, has also been covered in trans flags, one of which stretches over 18 miles, from Pennsylvania Avenue in the centre of Washington DC to Commo Road in Cheltenham.