To think work are being ridiculous

[Dolphin8765]

For work the main lanyard we are issued is a purple wire thin lanyard (photo attached). Myself and some other colleagues don’t like thin lanyards like that. The only other lanyard we are issued is wider like a normal lanyard, it’s a pride lanyard with the company logo on. We’ve asked work if we can buy and use our own lanyard and we were told. Aibu to think work are being a bit strict and ridiculous? What difference does it make if we use our own lanyard?

[luckylavender]

@SaltyGod

For us it's about security.

We have different coloured lanyards for staff, and for different types of visitors (contractors, visitors from other offices, those that must be accompanied at all times) They must be visible or we can be stopped and asked who we are.

Wearing the wrong lanyard could have security called until they worked out who you are.

We do too

[Queenofscones]

No, it's political — and businesses shouldn't be making political statements unless they intend to alienate many of their clients. The more people understand how the rainbow flag and lanyard are used against LGB people (whose symbol the rainbow was originally) the less likely they'll be to use the business.

LGB are united by the fact that they seek same-sex relationships. TQ+ don't. In fact some TQ+ people are hostile to lesbians and gay men for their insistence that they're same sex attracted. TQ+ people want it all to be about gender. It's not, it's about sex. For a lesbian or gay man who doesn't believe in gender to be required to wear a rainbow lanyard is like an atheist being forced to wear a cross. The Equality Act 2010 is quite clear on the subject: you can't compel belief and any business that tries to do so will find itself with a lawsuit on its hands.

[adriftinadenofvipers]

@Queenofscones

No, it's political — and businesses shouldn't be making political statements unless they intend to alienate many of their clients. The more people understand how the rainbow flag and lanyard are used against LGB people (whose symbol the rainbow was originally) the less likely they'll be to use the business.

LGB are united by the fact that they seek same-sex relationships. TQ+ don't. In fact some TQ+ people are hostile to lesbians and gay men for their insistence that they're same sex attracted. TQ+ people want it all to be about gender. It's not, it's about sex. For a lesbian or gay man who doesn't believe in gender to be required to wear a rainbow lanyard is like an atheist being forced to wear a cross. The Equality Act 2010 is quite clear on the subject: you can't compel belief and any business that tries to do so will find itself with a lawsuit on its hands.

Ah now but you have agency! Choose not to align yourself to a business whose values are not the same as yours!!

[SerafinasGoose]

@Owlatnight

I don't like lanyards so I wear outfits with a pocket. Colour is part of the uniform. I always think school uniform should include hair bands and ties of the school colour because it looks smarter.

UK school uniform is stridently enough policed as it is, IMO.

[vera99]

LanyardGate - god lies in the detail😁

[SerafinasGoose]

@DojaPhat

You'll definitely have a job on your hands explaining to work why you don't like the choices on offer.

Nailed it in one.

This is precisely the reason it's a problem.

[RosaBonheur]

@TheHoover

So it’s only ‘virtue signalling’ if you don’t agree with the cause then.

I'm not sure what point you think you're making here.

The point I'm making is that (a) it's really fucking weird that this particular cause is being promoted to the exclusion of all others, and (b) employers shouldn't be using their employees to promote causes they believe in at all, as a general rule. If you're the Terrence Higgins Trust and you want your employees to wear lanyards raising awareness of HIV, sure, fine. But unless you are an employer whose activities are directly connected to the cause in question, you shouldn't be doing this. You are entitled to your employees' labour during working hours, and for them to not behave in a way that brings your organisation into disrepute. You're not entitled to use them as foot soldiers for your political hobby horse, whether you actually believe in it or are just doing what Stonewall have told you to do so you can get your inclusivity badge.

[RosaBonheur]

Also, there are plenty of people who belong to religions which believe homosexuality is a sin.

I don't belong to one of those religions and I don't agree with that belief. I don't think their religious beliefs should be allowed to influence the laws of this country, for example, in relation to same sex marriage or abortion. But I do believe that they are entitled to hold those beliefs and that they should be allowed to practise their religion free from discrimination, as long as they aren't actually harming anyone else. The Equality Act agrees with me, as religious beliefs are a protected characteristic.

How is putting pressure on your employees to wear a rainbow lanyard, and effectively having to "out" themselves as not agreeing with what it stands for, whether for religious or other reasons, consistent with your obligations under the Equality Act?

There are many different protected characteristics under the Equality Act. Religion is one. Sexuality is another. If these characteristics have been deemed worthy of protection, they should all be worthy of equal protection. For religious people, that means not requiring or pressuring them to display a symbol demonstrating support for something that actually goes against their beliefs.

Gender identity is not actually a protected characteristic, but trans activists would have us all believe that not only is it a protected characteristic, it is actually the ONLY protected characteristic, along with being LGB but only if you agree to be lumped in with the T+ under the rainbow flag. If they want to exist separately on their own, that's not allowed.

[dreamingbohemian]

@RosaBonheur

I don't have any issues with the LGB aspect of it, although I believe the T+ aspect is currently a threat to women's rights.

If the rainbow was still just for the LGB and I was told to wear a rainbow lanyard, I would probably do so without thinking too much about it.

But it would still be weird if I did think about it.

Why this group? Why do our employers want to make everyone demonstrate visible support for this particular group, rather than disabled people, ethnic minorities, homeless people for example?

Whilst I don't doubt that homophobia still exists in our society, all the gay people I know are educated, affluent professionals in monogamous same sex relationships. A lesbian couple I know have recently had a child using a sperm donor and live very similar lives to me and my husband, except one of them is a woman. A gay couple I know have moved to the countryside and have an envy-inducing Instagram account filled with pictures of the amazing house they are painstakingly renovating, their extremely spoiled cat, and delicious things they have baked, broken up by regular fancy holidays. I don't see these people as oppressed minorities, I don't believe they see themselves as oppressed minorities or want to be thought of in that way. They want to be seen as perfectly normal couples, just like couples in a heterosexual relationship.

Of all the people I can think of that I might need to publicly demonstrate my support for to raise awareness of the struggles they face in life, those people are a pretty long way down the list.

And to be honest, I think if the rainbow flag was still just for the LGB, nobody would be forced to wear a rainbow lanyard.

It's the trans stuff.

By forcing you to wear a rainbow lanyard, your employer is sending you a very clear message that they won't support you if you object to a transgender male in the women's changing rooms. They're saying, "This organisation believes in gender woowoo, and if you don't, keep your mouth shut or leave."

Laughable

So because all your gay friends are wealthy and have Instagram-perfect lives, there's no need to worry about homophobia or make an effort to support gay rights?

In England and Wales for the 2021/22 reporting year, there were more than 26,000 hate crimes recorded by police in the sexual orientation category.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2021-to-2022/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2021-to-2022

[Mortimercat]

@Emotionalsupportviper

This. ⬆

Unless I worked for a specific cause, I don’t want my work uniform to be linked to anything.

And this. ⬆

So how would having a thicker one touching your neck help?

Because it spreads the weight @Mortimercat , and is less uncomfortable. OP's employers are obviously aware of this preference by some staff, otherwise they wouldn't offer two thicknesses of lanyard.

Spreads the weight? Don’t be absurd. An ID card weighs no more than a few grams. I am pretty good at maths and physics and I cannot see how a thinner lanyard is going to “spread the weight” in any way that a human being could detect it.

[RaininSummer]

I don't like thin ones either and definitely wouldn't wear a pride one. Will they notice if you buy a wider purple one?

[RosaBonheur]

@dreamingbohemian

Laughable

So because all your gay friends are wealthy and have Instagram-perfect lives, there's no need to worry about homophobia or make an effort to support gay rights?

In England and Wales for the 2021/22 reporting year, there were more than 26,000 hate crimes recorded by police in the sexual orientation category.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2021-to-2022/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2021-to-2022

And nearly five times as many race hate crimes so why is everyone being made to wear a rainbow lanyard rather than an anti racism one?

Why this group?

In any case, the rainbow flag has precious little to do with gay rights these days, which is why many gay people no longer feel it represents them or feel comfortable displaying it themselves.

[Rosula]

By forcing you to wear a rainbow lanyard, your employer is sending you a very clear message that they won't support you if you object to a transgender male in the women's changing rooms. They're saying, "This organisation believes in gender woowoo, and if you don't, keep your mouth shut or leave."

Just as well that no-one's forcing OP to wear it then, isn't it? She has a perfectly good alternative freely available.

[SerafinasGoose]

My employer is Stonewalled to the hilt and up to its nuts in allies.

If I wore a suffragette lanyard, I could very conceivably be fired.

But they've shoving rainbow ones at their staff complement hand-over-fist.

Whatever that says about their supposed commitment to free expression and the ideals of academic freedom, it seems to involve a peculiarly Orwellian form of doublethink.

[RosaBonheur]

@Rosula

By forcing you to wear a rainbow lanyard, your employer is sending you a very clear message that they won't support you if you object to a transgender male in the women's changing rooms. They're saying, "This organisation believes in gender woowoo, and if you don't, keep your mouth shut or leave."

Just as well that no-one's forcing OP to wear it then, isn't it? She has a perfectly good alternative freely available.

Lots of people don't agree that the thin lanyard is a perfectly good alternative.

Personally I think that if your employer is going to mandate what kind of lanyard you wear, they should all be the same, and completely non-political. At my workplace, everyone has an identical blue lanyard with the company logo on it.

If they allow you to freely choose your own lanyard, then you can buy a rainbow one if you really want to show everyone what a good little ally you are.

[Ktime]

@DashboardConfessional

I must have missed where the OP said she has sensory issues.

(Spoiler - I didn't)

OP said she doesn't like them. And others have said they have sensory issues.

And yet you're dismissing it as a non-issue.

[user1492757084]

Can you wear two lanyards at the same time; two attatched to the one name. The thin purple one for boss and the thicker purple one for comfort.

[user1492757084]

The rainbow needs to become apolitical again.
It is a symbol that used to mean hope for all who trust and was associated with Noah's Ark surviving the flood.

[RosaBonheur]

Why does no one ever tell people who want us all to believe in gender nonsense to grow up and deal with it?

[RosaBonheur]

@SerafinasGoose

My employer is Stonewalled to the hilt and up to its nuts in allies.

If I wore a suffragette lanyard, I could very conceivably be fired.

But they've shoving rainbow ones at their staff complement hand-over-fist.

Whatever that says about their supposed commitment to free expression and the ideals of academic freedom, it seems to involve a peculiarly Orwellian form of doublethink.

Totally agree.

[Spanky123]

This is a ridiculous non issue.

[RosaBonheur]

Yeah but these lanyard fuckwits who think that because they employ us they have the right to dictate our political opinions don't, and that's the problem.

[rwalker]

@RosaBonheur

Yeah but these lanyard fuckwits who think that because they employ us they have the right to dictate our political opinions don't, and that's the problem.

What political opinion does plain purple (no doubt matching uniform )represent