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.

If you work with vulnerable children, you shouldn't be wearing any badges of this type. Just follow the laws around safeguarding and EA10. "LGBT" includes 'trans'. You should not be promoting trans ideology to children. You do not want a girl growing up to miss a smear because she doesn't realise she has a cervix, or a boy having sexual contact with a person who believes he's female because that's what the boy himself believes. The people who have introduced these badges have made a mistake; if they don't realise this withdraw them, an honest mistake becomes a culpable act.

It seems madness - surely as previous posters have said you can support and agree with some parts and perhaps have some concerns about other areas.

It really does feel at times as if there is simply ‘no debate’. If you do not comply and support the whole LGBTQI+ movement then you are simply a transphobe.

Peak ridiculous. I re listened to a Nolan investigate this week from back in 2021. Well worth a relisten knowing what has passed since 2021.

www.bbc.com/audio/brand/p09yjmph

“Vulnerable young people” would be better off working with adults who were professionally objective and didn’t virtue signal and advocate for things they don’t understand. Do you have any idea of some of the dodgy and perverse practices that are represented under the little “+” at the end? Mmm. Thought not.

How did “we” all decide to do something so illegal?

im B but against the T and some of the plus. What badge should I get in your new utopia where there is to be no wrong think and philosophical beliefs are proscribed? @whatishappening123

Agree with this, I would have refused to wear the rainbow one originally

This. Every word.

It is a protected characteristic.

I think we all know that red is the most homophobic color.

J/K. I am sure you're correct and the original poster has misunderstood. The red is probably just a neutral option in the event that someone doesn't want the rainbow option. Not choosing the rainbow option doesn't automatically mean that one is against what it stands for it just means that they didn't want the rainbow badge.

On that logic, by having a rainbow rather than the progress pride flag you're signalling that you're anti "marginalized communities within the LGBTQ+ umbrella, including people of color, the transgender community, and those living with HIV/AIDS" (those are people that the progress pride flag claims to represent in addition to the old-fashioned rainbow).

Is red just the company colours?

You’re being ridiculous. The rainbow LGB pride flag has completely been co-opted. It’s now a political statement. People are allowed to disagree with politics but still believe in what the flag originally stood for.

If the LGBT movement isn’t on your list of things to support then I think you should be allowed to ignore it. Not everyone wants to celebrate the sexual preferences of others. Making those who have decided to opt out wear a badge confining that they have sounds a bit provocative

It really, really isn't. Go and read the 2010 Equality Act and get back to us.

I would refuse to do anything an employer tells me to do that isn’t related to my job.

In civil societies, people are not forced to express belief in anything. This is where the left took a wrong turn. It isn’t wrong to hold any given belief; it’s wrong to act upon that belief if to do so could cause harm to third parties. That’s what laws are for, and that’s what education is for.

Just ask HR to remove rainbow red et cetera badges it causes confusion and divisiveness.

Red lanyards don’t signify “anti LGBT”. They signify neutrality.

Exactly. Young people are impressionable. They may not know they are gay, they may just be experimenting with various ideas. They should be free to do so without being labelled or badged. Leave young people alone.

Why punish a whole group because you don't agree with one element of it.

OP, this IS upsetting. I could see where the anti-trans stance was taking us. The language that is used against transpeople normalises discrimination and it is a matter of time before that spreads to the normalisation of discrimination against other groups.

Can I also say OP my sibling is gay. And they wouldn’t wear a badge like that because it’s not their identity it’s their sexuality and all they want is to live their life. They don’t need companies wearing badges.

All this performative badge wearing just serves to cause division and upset, when individuals like the OP assume that if you don't want to join the flag waving, you must be actively against that group.

Let's just lose the whole lot and allow people to get along with doing their jobs, acting like professionals in their field and treating everyone fairly regardless of their sex, sexuality, religion, disabilities, ethnic origin, etc.

Can you point out the “punishment” here, please?

I hope your workplace isn’t discriminatory and allows gender critical badges too.

People feel punished if other people don't wear a specific badge?

get out of here!

Unfortunately the new ever changing, ever moving goal posts around LGBTQA+ discourse means a lot of people have dipped out and don’t support it anymore.

I’m not sure how I feel about certain people working in a field where so many are, like you said, often LGBT, but I also think it shouldn’t be necessary to parade badges around at work to signal this, that or the other. It would inevitably lead to issues like these.

Me too. Id be effectively lying. I'm a lesbian. I dont think transwomen should be in our 'group', among many other reasons I wouldn't wear it.