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.

Can you point me to some of the employment tribunals or Supreme Court judgements over the last five years that have found this? Because there are an awful lot of ones that have found women have been discriminated against by those exposing gender ideology.

Not everybody agrees with your perverted ideology, OP.
Let people’s private lives remain private.

Grown adults arguing about what colour ribbon they should wear at work. 2025 really is the stupidest timeline.

Worse, grown adults who are responsible for vulnerable young service users, presumably tax-payer funded to have these toddler tantrums.

Everyone should watch the MeowMeowBeenz episode of Community. It nailed this inane, ingroup defining, virtue signalling nonsense ten years ago.

I'd ask them outright why they chose it. Then I'd ask if they would be able to work with an LGBT person. I'd keep questioning to get to the bottom of their views and figure out if they are in the right job. They might realise something themselves during the conversation.

Requiring non-conformists to wear red in this context seems to be a shaming mechanism on the part of the employer.

I'm very glad this thread has been posted as evidence that some employers are resorting to applying this kind of cloak-and-dagger, yet extremely transparent pressure. Shameful behaviour.

You have no right to question other people's choice of badge colour. They would be well within their rights to tell you to fuck off and mind your own business

And forcing people to pretend that they are supporting the “LGBT” political movement, because that is what it is, is potentially discrimination on the grounds of religion/belief. It’s not oppressive not to wear a rainbow badge. It is oppressive to make people say something they don’t believe. See the cake case, Forstater etc.

And what if the service users are vulnerable girls who feel intimidated by gender ideology? Do they not count?

The red is just a colour, it doesnt mean 'against' FGS

Same

Yes I am aware of that.

Changing your pronouns and speaking in a funny voice doesn't make Dave with the full beard, someone who has transitioned.

They’d be within their rights to raise a grievance against their colleague for harassment, and expect the employer to act or themselves end up in court.

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+

Well, that sounds like a totally unnecessary decision in the first place that's now been partially reversed for employees that don't think people's sex lives have anything to do with their job.

If I was working there I'd be running a depressing sweepstake on how long it would take for the terfs to go from 'I don't want to wear a rainbow badge' to 'actually, people wearing a rainbow badge is offensive to me personally, and I don't want anyone wearing one'

Red isn't a symbol for being anti anything. It's just a coloured badge. HTH.

So…because someone doesn’t think the same way as you that means they’re wrong? That’s a surefire way to turn us into a Nazi state with no-one allowed to have an opinion. You have your opinion and others have theirs. Move on and leave them to it.

Why is that any less reasonable than coercing people to wear one?

Ok. We obviously read and interpreted the original post differently. I took from it that as OP said many of their service users are “often” LGBT+. From that I thought it was probably not ideal to have “anti” LGBT+ staff.
Not looking for an argument.

Not wearing the rainbow badge doesn't mean they're 'anti' anything. It just means they don't want to wear the badge.

I think it's unlikely they'd tell me to F off, its usually just people behind a screen or in a mob that get aggressive. I don't agree it can't be questioned, they made a statement by choosing a new badge so of course it will raise questions when someone working with vulnerable people chooses to stop wearing a rainbow badge.

Not wanting to wear a rainbow badge isn’t “anti” anything, and it’s possible to be perfectly pro LGB rights but anti trans agenda policies.

I work with lots of people of both sexes, different sexual preferences, religions, nationalities.

I don’t need badges to show I can work with them. Nor alphabet letters.

If by terf you mean anyone who is GC then I am GC and I disagree with you. You're confusing the attitude of terfs with the attitude of tra's.

This!! It's a choice of a badge.... Red or Rainbow?

In this position I would wear neither, but have a tear-off sticker with my name handwritten on it.

The more resistance there is to these horrible shaming tactics by employers, the better. It's as if they're deliberately trying to weed out dissent and having a red-for-danger, 'unclean' symbol to clearly flag those who would prefer to keep their personal beliefs private, or for legitimate reasons oppose gender ideology: a perfectly legally-held and legally-protected stance.

I'm also uncomfortable with the underlying message 'either you're with us or you're against us'. Opposing some of the more problematic elements of gender ideology does not make a person anti-LGBT. For reference, some of those who have suffered specifically at the hands of this movement, and for these reasons oppose it most vehemently, also happen to be lesbians.

This employer is being completely disingenous and absolutely transparent. Their actions are repellent.