NHS Rainbow badge scheme good news

The rainbow symbol has come to represent homophobia to a lot of people because of the trans insistence that homosexuality doesn't exist. Or as stonewall puts it, is now an outdated 'medical term'.

Nothing to do with prejudice towards lesbians, who they described as sexual racists, and everything to do with the trans ideology that undermines the very concept.

I'm a lesbian and I and my lesbian friends find it terrifying. We feel unsafe and at risk from increasing prejudice when we see the hostility directed towards the symbol that for decades has represented who we are.

Do you believe it represents who you are now?

Because to a sizable proportion of the population it doesn't - it has become synonymous for them with the worst excesses of gender ideology and Queer Theory and public displays of fetishism.

I'm not sure how you could go about reclaiming it.

Maybe not yet, but the hostility to any rainbow symbolism is striking on this board, isn't it?

Plenty of threads on FWR advocate about defacing rainbow flags, and also give advice on this, which is of course illegal.

Mumsnet moderators don't even remove the posts that give advice on how to successfully deface another's property, citing that is freedom of speech.

So they allow this advice on how to commit an illegal activity to stand on their boards. (I have an email conversation with them about this.) We have to assume since this is brought to their attention that this is a position that Mumsnet HQ holds.

So yeah, there is definitely a strong hostility to my rainbow symbolism here.

I'm a lesbian and I and my lesbian friends find it terrifying. We feel unsafe and at risk from increasing prejudice when we see the hostility directed towards the symbol that for decades has represented who we are.

I'm reminded of the SNP, who are not so good at things like infrastructure and education, but are enthusiastically pouring money time and energy into a bill to ban conversion therapy, the GRR bill, the Hate Crime Bill.

Comparatively cheap, I suppose, at least on the face of it. But with potentially disastrous consequences.

Labour’s spending plans are folding like a house of cards and will continue to

They could easily push LGBTA as their only differentiator and given recent speeches looks like something they’d do

I wish I had your optimism.

Given the pledges Starmer made at the LGBT+ Labour event in Parliament on 29 January, I've a feeling Labour will divert money from actual healthcare to schemes like this.

I don’t know- if the budget is canceled then labour would have to find it again, given the state of the nhs that’s not a given

Yes, because what we're all suggesting is carting people off to the gulag, if they display rainbow flags.

Oh wait, it's not at all.

Putin will be proud

https://apnews.com/article/russia-lgbtq-crackdown-court-rainbow-flag-dc4081bd74938fedf600ac0cca5cc679

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/02/01/russian-court-jails-woman-for-wearing-extremist-rainbow-earrings-a83938

This is something I would love to know.

David Tweed was who I meant.

David Tweed's stepdaughter criticises unionist politicians who lauded the 'paedophile and a violent thug'' following his death in a crash

https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2021/11/20/news/david-tweed-s-stepdaughter-criticises-unionist-politicians-who-lauded-the-paedophile-and-a-violent-thug-following-his-dea-2514085/

How much time money and effort did they waste?

Some little chinks are beginning to appear in their cloak of invisiblity/invulnerability.

Wow that is a powerful and very sobering read.

Which makes it all the more frustrating and profoundly irritating that the empathy and sympathy is with the attention-seekers rather than the transwidows and children.

Does anyone recall the NI politician or public figure who died within the last 1-3 years and there were paens of praise being ladled out by fellow public figures? Until the widow and children spoke up about how abusive he was and the impact he'd had on their lives? After which the tweets etc. then disappeared.

We don't hear from the people affected. And we don't have a decent evidence base about them. They're invisible in so many dimensions and it seems that no official body cares enough about this to investigate the evidence gap and collate data.

That was heartbreaking 😥

On a slightly tangential but relevant point, have you read this?

AUTHOR=Gribble Karleen D., Bewley Susan, Bartick Melissa C., Mathisen Roger, Walker Shawn, Gamble Jenny, Bergman Nils J., Gupta Arun, Hocking Jennifer J., Dahlen Hannah G.

TITLE=Effective Communication About Pregnancy, Birth, Lactation, Breastfeeding and Newborn Care: The Importance of Sexed Language

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Global Women's Health

VOLUME=3

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2022.818856 

DOI=10.3389/fgwh.2022.818856   

ISSN=2673-5059

My sister is a lesbian. She finds it tiresome when dealing with others in relation to the assumption that her partner is male and the father of her children. She doesn't however assume people are bigoted or have a problem with her sexuality. She infers that people just make assumptions based on what is typical/ most common. She actually finds a simple mistake arising from an oversight easier than people making a big deal of referring to her 'partner' and then being very self satisfied when discovering its a woman'.

She lives in a cosmopolitan and diverse city. She does encounter some homophobia, she also encounters people trying to 'you're so amazing and brave and special' her. Neither are comfortable. I expect many Rainbow Badge wearers fall into the latter.

I've had comments deleted without an email.

One aspect of schemes like this is that they make leaders feel good about themselves in relation to 'doing DEI' without having to do anything. They can think/ say - look at us being all inclusive, aren't we great - without lifting a finger to identify what the health inequalities that keep being raised are and what evidenced based changes could/would improve things.

I wonder what performance indicators relating to reducing inequality were set at the point of rolling out the scheme, and how the scheme has done against these. I fear that the PIs were along the lines of 90% of staff will use pronouns in their email signatures and when doing a spot audit - 95% of staff on any given ward will be wearing a rainbow badge or lanyard. Success of these schemes are often measured by levels of compliance with the initiatives, rather than whether the initiative is having an impact in the areas it was designed to address.

I am very much in favour of health equality and improving the nation's health. If Ls, Gs, Bs or Ts have specific issues accessing healthcare, I am all for these being addressed. If the Rainbow Badge scheme hasn't helped to improve things, it should be binned and a better initiative brought it.

Because they are all grifters now. Maybe not in the past, but they are now.

Read the post above yours. A content warning for saying women give birth FFS.

https://www.britishjournalofmidwifery.com/content/research/exploring-same-sex-couples-experiences-of-maternity-care/

Re the quote 'Once I saw a mum looking at my badge and after that she knew it was okay to just be herself' , for others it would have the opposite effect. It is also a safeguarding risk as they wouldn't be able to speak up eg about abuse.
https://childrenoftransitioners.org/2021/09/25/not-shutting-up/
NHS hospitals should be safe for all, not biassed for /against certain groups.

I am glad you had a good experience with medics. It did not used to be like that.