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.

I agree with others that work name badges/lanyards etc should be neutral. My personal views on subjects such a politics/LGBTQ+/religion etc are separate to my professional work self. I actually don't think that any sort of alliance badges should be displayed at work.

It's pretty awful if the red badge is anything other than the regular badge and it most certainly shouldn't be branded as 'anti' anything.

I dont support everything lgbt as I'm not pro trans or supportive of everything the group does. We had a family fun day here that was hijacked and became an lgbt event.. Wasn't really kid friendly anymore with half dressed drag queens walking around everywhere.
So no I wouldn't want to wear the badge, people can shag who they want but it has nothing to do with me and I don't want it shoved in my face either.

Gender reassignment applies to anyone that has undergone, is undergoing or is planning to go through gender reassignment (medical transitioning as you call it) Transgender is a protected characteristic

Society has deemed it impolite to point out people’s physical attributes unnecessarily.

It is not impolite to say "speak to Susan....the man in the corner" (obviously only if Susan is a man who calls himself Susan) as it is important to be able to acknowledge a persons sex.

In what sense do you disagree?

Transgender is not gender reassignment.

There's an actual process. We don't have self ID in this country. Thank fuck.

I wouldn't want to wear any badge proclaiming any support for any groups at work. I am there to do a job. I am respectful, professional and empathetic to all.

So where is the badge supporting BAME service users, and disabled service users? Volumes would likely be similar in a health care setting, if anything you’d expect to see a higher proportion of disabled users than LGBT+ so why does it make sense for staff members to be forced to wear a rainbow badge but not a badge calling out their own disabilities to demonstrate their understanding and be inclusive or highlighting specific reasonable adjustments they are able to offer?

I can’t speak for anyone else. Personally, in a professional role where I was expected to support them, I’m not sure I could because I would feel like a fraud.
As a volunteer, possibly.

A part of it is. One of the protected characteristics is “sexual preference.” That applies to heterosexuality as well as homosexuality.

The other relevant PC is “gender transition” - which is not the same as “transgender”

And it’s not hard to imagine a scenario in which there is a clash of rights between a homosexual and someone undergoing gender transition.

I'm willing to be proven wrong, but I've never seen anything Butler wrote about consent.
Foucalt did sign the infamous letter, but so did Simone de Beauvoir and as we all know Germaine Greer wrote a whole book about how it was awful that society commented her sexual attraction to pre pubescent boys so by your logic we should be tar all feminists by the same brush.

Yup.
OP is either not a particularly perceptive thinker or the whole thing is bullshit. I wouldn’t opt for the rainbow. It’s become virtue signalling bullshit hijacked by all sorts of ridiculous movements. That doesn’t mean I hate gay people ffs.

I like red
I don’t see why anyone should be forced to say they support anything in particular
I do see that they should treat all fairly and kindly and I don’t see that wearing a coloured thing will help that at all

They're free to identify as whatever they like outside of work hours.

During work hours they should identify as "person getting on with job they are paid to do".

100% - I treat everyone with the same respect at work unless they give me reason not to.

Their sexuality, race, religion, physical ability etc are irrelevant to how we all do our job and coexist as colleagues

We support a different demographic. We did have the option of rainbow lanyards at one point, not sure if we still have because it's been a while since I needed a new one and I haven't checked, but I decided to stick to a boring old company logo one. This was emphatically not because I am on the anti side but because I feel our views on this or any other sociopolitical hot potatoes shouldn't be expressed at work.

No, you misunderstand I think. The staff are supporting service users. Many of those service users are LGBT+.
If the staff are “anti” LGBT+ I would question their ability to fulfil the needs of the service users.

Would

This isn’t an “LGBT” organisation, they are some of the service users. Just like this hypothetical organisation is just for asylum seekers, most of whom there are Muslims who believe in Islam.

I would wear the red one. I don’t advertise my beliefs- particularly not at work.

Gender reassignment applies to anyone who has gone through the process of transitioning or plans to. It’s a protected characteristic even if you haven’t yet medically transitioned so transgender does come under gender reassignment

What on earth do they (the employer) mean by 'do not agree with LGBT?' That's a nonsense statement; particularly given the various initials falling under that umbrella are of discrete groups with varying and sometimes conflicting definitions, needs, and modes of discrimination to contend with.

I would certainly question why I wasn't being asked to wear a sunflower badge to support the disabled, or an anti-racist statement - were such a symbol to exist - or solidarity with, say, victims of trafficking, sexual abuse, or other marginalised communities.

Why is LGBT the only group of minorities to get a look in? Why is gender ideology the only present ideology which constantly demands visual signals of compliance? I am not a believer. I don't have to and don't want to signal conformity with a belief system actively proven to be damaging to women and children (cf this year's Supreme Court judgement on the parameters of the Equality Act, and also the Cass report).

The wearing of a red badge if you don't hold with this nonsense (interesting choice of colour; is it meant to be a danger signal?) looks very much to me like not-so-soft pressure being applied to enforce compliance.

Kudos to those staff who've said 'no thank you' to this pervasive, ever-present pressure which thankfully now seems to be losing its momentum.

No it doesn't, even the EHRC state those very clearly. It includes anyone who is undergoing our considering undergoing reassignment. It's literally there in their plain English guidelines.

There should never have been this or any other similar political or ideology-based statements or symbols in a work environment, especially when your client base is vulnerable people. You should be welcoming and accessible to all. Not just people who align with particular views.

As you can see throughout this thread, there are plenty of LGB people who do not agree with the forced teaming of T+ with LGB, and would not be happy at being expected to wear a rainbow badge.

It’s quite clear who is misunderstanding. This is not a specific “LGBT” organisation. They are required to support ALL their service users even ones who are religious homophobes or think trans ideology is absurd, like most people.