Rainbow badges at work - upset

[whatishappening123]

I work in a sector with vulnerable young people. A few years ago, we made the decision as a company to wear as part of our uniform, a name tag with the rainbow on as part of pledging our support to LGBT+
We have all received new name badges and for the first time ever- an option has been provided to have a red coloured one instead of the rainbow if staff 'do not agree with LGBT+'
I have raised this with HR and union and been told that staff are now allowed to choose and that is their right.
I feel really upset by this - colleagues I have known for years are now deciding against the rainbow badge.
We work with the most vulnerable- who are often LGBT. Some of our service users have asked staff directly why they are not using them- and they have lied saying " They'd run out , or the pin on the rainbow ones are crap, some staff are hiding the red ones.
It's not a majority by any means - it's probably about 11 staff in a staff of 60.
I just feel really really upset by it, but I can't quite put my finger on why.
I also don't understand how people can be 'against' LGBT
It's a protected characteristic.

That’s not LGBT thought is it? Read my post at 17:20 which explains why “LGBT” is not a protected characteristic. It’s covered in part by two characteristics. If OP wants to claim that people are being discriminated against she should consider this in line with the equality act, not what she (or you) consider to be protected characteristics. For example, why would a rainbow badge to express support for LGBT people not discriminate against heterosexual people, but a red badge would discriminate against LGBT people? Being heterosexual is covered by the sexual orientation protected characteristic.

I'd refuse a rainbow badge, they should be neutral.

Absolutely it should be a place which is equally inclusive of everyone. But unfortunately it isn't. LGBTQ+ people experience significant discrimination, hence the need for counterbalance.

What on earth does feeling female in your head mean?

That’s not “LGBT” but as you are acknowledging you don’t really understand enough about this.

The first sexuality mentioned is heterosexual which I don’t believe falls under LGBT

What does that * stand for?

You seem to have come to a weird conclusion that people that don’t want to wear a rainbow badge walk around announcing their hatred for all things LGBT.

Personally I keep my opinions and beliefs to myself at work, because they are not relevant to my ability to do my job. Unless these workers are actually discriminating against LGBT service users, their personal beliefs are their business and they shouldn’t be forced to either lie about them and wear a symbol they disagree with or announce them via a badge.

I absolutely support LGBT rights. I also support disabled rights, women's rights, protection against racism, protection against age discrimination (at both ends of the age scale). These things are bare minimum legal requirements in the workplace.

If you get pins made for all those things, then what you're actually saying is "I abide by the bare minimum legal expectations of a British workplace". Which isn't much of a statement, really.

But if you promote just one characteristic, does that mean you don't care about the others? Which would then actually be less than the bare minimum expectation.

The irony is there are a lot of gay people who now feel alienated by the rainbow police because theres a sizeable number who aren't gay and are using it to virtue signal in a homophobic way unfortunately.

It's no longer got the same meaning as it did.

There is now an active backlash - not against LGBT people in most cases - but against the authoritarian bullshit of virtue signalling at work.

Interesting OP.
I now see rainbows on employees and think "are they anti woman and making a mockery of support for same sex attracted people. Or just doing empty performative virtue signalling?"

Your work should never have brought them in.

Well, your friend absolutely should get the ramps and spaces they need.

I agree, there may be better ways than badges to ensure everyone feels included. But there's certainly no harm in them.

That’s not what OP is saying?

This is so silly. Staff should not be showing any political allegiances on their badges, it's totally unprofessional. I know you might think "but it's just being a good person!" No not really. What has been done in the name of the rainbow is not all sunshine. (Google Isla Bryson if you are have not been paying attention.)

Might not feel right to you but you don’t speak for everyone. Everyone can have their own opinions and preferences.

Did they actually say red is for staff that don’t agree with LGBT? Why is it a binary choice, with one side being deemed “unsupportive “ /negative?

What about people that aren’t on either side? Or simply don’t care to put their views on display?

Why not have rainbow or plain lanyards and everyone chooses without any connotations?

The cynic in me thinks the real targets here are your (GC?) colleagues rather than the service users.

One that often arises through use of porn, especially cissy porn.

Even if many of your service users identified as such?

You mean like gender critical women?

Yes sure.

That rock must have been pretty dark.

I would only wear a rainbow badge if it has Noah's rainbow on it and reminds both the straight and the gay what that story means.

I love rainbows but all this rainbow shite is actually turning me off them.

Some people are private and are allowed to be.

It isn’t.

The protected characteristics are Sexual Orientation and Gender Reassignment.

One is a sexuality, the other is an identity.

The Equality Act says you can’t be treated detrimentally for being ‘trans’, the Supreme Court judgement says ‘being treated detrimentally’ doesn’t include forcing others to pretend you’ve changed sex or using the facilities of the opposite sex.

It also says that the pc of Gender Reassignment dies nut override that of Sexual Orientation so prevents the homophobia of the trans lobby that says sexual attraction is based on identity not our biological sex. It’s an important distinction.

OP demonstrates perfectly why NO ONE should be wearing political lanyards or badges in the workplace. It’s divisive.

The colour red is NOT an anti LGBT colour and I think the staff should have a choice of the colour they wear.

Fucking hell, the government will go bankrupt creating all these badges. They'll ruin my bloody clothes with all the pin holes.