A message to DPD

[LivelyFinch]

Just deliver my parcel, I don't need every icon on your App festooned with a trans/rainbow flag. Just do what you are paid to do and don't shuff your political crap down my throat.

Rant over.

Apparently in the US gay and lesbian people surveyed recently feel they have more in common with straight people than trans people. And gay and lesbian people are considerably less likely than trans people to feel connected to a broader LGBT “community”. I imagine the same might happen here if asked. Interesting research.

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2025/05/29/community-friends-and-lgbtq-spaces/

Half of gay or lesbian adults say they have at least a fair amount in common with people who are bisexual (50%). A similar share (51%) say they have a lot in common with people who are straight.
Fewer (28%) say they have a lot in common with people who are transgender.
These figures are based on gay and lesbian adults who are not transgender.

Which other groups are we required to "acknowledge exist" when getting stuff delivered?

I'm going to take a guess on no.

Last June, I spent a bit of time comparing and contrasting the behaviour of different national branches of various international corps. Not a single one demonstrated any solidarity on social media with the LGB community or the T+ community in middle eastern countries...

It would be much more meaningful and financially risky for these companies to take a stance in support of gay rights in other nations. That's why they don't. Businesses only associate themselves with the rainbow flag in any of its permutations in countries where the PR department thinks the fight for gay rights is done and dusted.

Yes. This

Yes but it's the loud ones pissing on statues that rub people up the wrong way isn't it?

Yes. What?

@Imnobody4

The way companies and schools ignored World Introvert Day is a disgrace, bigots.

The most defensible erasure. It’s what they would have wanted : )

The clash between gender-based rights and sex-based rights is well-documented. Celebrating one very demonstrably harmed the other.

But putting that aside: Jews have had a tough time of it, I’m sure you’ll agree. Would you have any concern about firms rebranding their apps en masse with a Star of David? Or a cross, or a crescent, or any other marker of identity or belief?

Once celebration of any sectional world view becomes socially enforced, it undermines the secular pluralism that a liberal democracy needs to function, and becomes a problem.

In what way are trans people fighting the same fight as guys and lesbians?

I'm have a lot of gay friends, they work, pay taxes, get married just like any other person. If they are disabled, living in poverty, require help they will receive it via family, friends or charity.

Gay people are just normal members of society, they don't need any virtue signalling from a parcel delivery company.

My last post was meant to include this quote!!

We’re told the ugly contemporary Pride flag represents the LGBTQ+ community, but these days, much of the hostility toward actual LGB people seems to come from within — particularly from the ever-expanding “TQ++” faction.

We now have heterosexual men who “identify and live as women” harassing lesbians — some quite aggressively — and being applauded for it. Young butch lesbians are being persuaded they’re actually straight men and pushed toward medicalisation. And increasingly, straight women who claim to “identify as men” are pursuing gay men and publicly painting themselves as victims when rejected.

It’s “trans the gay away” in real time — and the consequences fall squarely on LGB people, who are then told to shut up in the name of inclusion. What “community” are we talking about anymore?
The fact that a (straight) asexual woman was selected to lead a Pride parade speaks volumes. What, exactly, is she representing — besides the erasure of the people Pride was meant to celebrate?

Not comparable at all.
The fight for legal same sex marriage didn’t impinge on anyone else’s rights in any way at all.

Trans rights that are being demanded affect the rights of women and girls to have safety, privacy and dignity.

Yes, or as my friend says, 'if they want to live their lives as a woman why don't they just wear jeans and a cardigan, like the rest of us?'

'no impact on anyone else's'?
Apart from the impact on the media, where trans males have to be referred to as she, apart from the law, where calling a male a male can be a non-crime hate incident, apart from education where children are taught unscientific things like that sex is a spectrum, apart from the lesbian and gay movement where we were forced to accept an unrelated group, who are not same-sex attracted as we are, apart from lesbians who were called sexual racists for defending our right to be ourselves, and not accept men as lesbians, apart from history which is rewritten to insert 'trans' where it is a total anachronism, apart from insisting on using women's single sex spaces, even after the highest court in the land has affirmed our right to single sex spaces...

I could go on, but I think that's enough to show that the idea that 'Most trans people just want to get on with their lives and have no impact on anyone else’s'
is so far from reality that it is an exoplanet outside the solar system of the glaringly obvious.

As is the idea that the trans rights movement is 'just like' the lesbian and gay rights movement. A bit of research on lesbian and gay history will show that it most definitely is not.
What human rights have trans people not got in the UK as of today?

I passed this monstrosity recently as I was leaving our local hospital

Because Pride Month is no longer about combatting homophobia. It's not about reminding people gay people exist among them.

Something like Dementia Awareness Month can still do this. Many people won't realise how widespread dementia is, because they don't personally encounter it. They won't understand the struggles sufferers and their families face.

But everyone knows gay people exist. We see them every day. Even if you lived in some remote village without any out gay people, you would be exposed through the media. The "we're here" part of Pride no longer applies. These days, the gay community only has to organise in this way to express their opposition to TQ ideology. Think of the annual LGB Alliance conferences, or the Not All Gays / Not In Our Name conference that was just held in Dublin. Those are in the old spirit of Pride. People standing up to be counted and to say "no, you don't understand us, let us show you who we really are".

Your average corporate-sponsored Pride parade is not doing that. It's basically a big party. They're not talking about the actual issues faced by LGB people in the modern day. It's all firing zingers at a bogeyman of their collective imagination, while insisting that trans are the most oppressed group ever to have existed. LGB must perform allyship to trans, and we're all supposed to agree that "trans rights" are in peril and they're facing the same oppression gay people historically did. But when you look at it more closely, you see it's not the same at all.

Pride has been completely co-opted by an ideology many gay people don't agree with, and many straight allies are sick of. It's simplistic to say only homophobes question the modern incarnation of Pride.

I can't stand the new Progress Pride flag. It looks like some sort of monstrous Pac-Man chomping its way through the classic rainbow flag. You almost can't believe they didn't design it as an intentional piece of satire

It’s so lovely that your local hospital has enough money to meet local people’s needs and still have enough left to paint a pointless political slogan on the wall ❤️

I want to write to companies and explain why their Pride support concerns me, but I'm tired and time poor so I asked AI to help...
Was pleasantly surprised! Here it is in case anyone wants to borrow bits (bold emphasis is mine):

---

Dear [Company Name] Team,
I’m writing to respectfully explain why I will not be supporting your brand during your promotion of Pride Month initiatives.
While I fully support the right of all individuals to live free from discrimination and to be treated with dignity, I am increasingly concerned about the direction and tone of some aspects of Pride events and messaging—particularly where these intersect with children and young people.

Many Pride celebrations today include a wide range of participants and themes, from family-friendly inclusivity to overtly adult-oriented content such as kink, fetish displays, and sexualized imagery. I believe brands should be cautious in their endorsement of events where these elements are not clearly separated, especially when the events are presented as suitable for all ages. I’m concerned that this lack of distinction can blur important boundaries and create confusion or discomfort for families.

Moreover, I believe companies should be careful in aligning with activist campaigns that may unintentionally promote contested ideas—such as the medicalisation of gender-questioning children—without acknowledging the growing debate and evidence cautioning against early intervention. Recent policy shifts in the UK, Finland, and Sweden reflect a more evidence-based, cautious approach to youth gender care, favoring psychological support over irreversible medical treatments.

Additionally, I noted the recent UK Supreme Court ruling (in For Women Scotland v. The Scottish Ministers, 2024) which confirmed that, for the purposes of the Gender Representation on Public Boards Act, “woman” must refer to biological sex. This ruling affirms that legal clarity is sometimes necessary where gender identity and biological sex are in tension. I believe this case highlights the need for nuance in conversations around sex and gender, and underscores the risks of uncritically adopting ideological positions in corporate policy.

As a customer, I am disappointed that [Company Name] appears to take a one-sided stance on these complex and contested issues. I believe that brands have a responsibility to foster inclusive values without promoting positions that may compromise child safeguarding or dismiss reasonable concerns about legal and biological realities.

I share this feedback in the hope that your team will consider a more careful and nuanced approach to the causes you support publicly. I’m not motivated by hostility, but by concern for safeguarding, child development, and the need for open, respectful public discourse.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]

Also as an LGB woman, I hate the progress flag but I've also come to dislike the original rainbow one too. Pride at least in my city, is a far cry from 20 years ago. The recent Pride events with their trans focus and fetish displays are a huge turn off (for me )and I'm convinced they've done the LGB community more harm than good.

I think all these new 'gays' and 'lesbians' that claim to happily date trans people, should just state they are queer or pansexual or whatever. Same-sex attraction can never include the opposite sex. I'd have thought that was glaringly obvious and easy to understand. A lesbian isn't 'same gender attracted'. Not the definition I'm aware of for several decades..
Don't re-define lesbian to include penis people aka men. Create your own word and definition. This one has already been taken.

Just ignore it if it bothers you.

I totally agree with the OP.
I lived and worked in Brighton from the mid 80’s, I had numerous gay, lesbian, bi friends, colleagues and clients. I lived in Kemptown ( if anyone knows Brighton.) At that time Brighton was considered a gay friendly place BUT my friends were still regularly being beaten up for being gay or being lesbian and having the temerity of rejecting unwanted advances from groups of drunk young men!

I had friends and clients DYING from HIV/AIDS on what seemed like a weekly basis.

I had young clients left to die in squalor in Lewes Prison because no prison officers wanted to “catch it”.

At the time Pride and the work of the LGB Charities in Brighton was vital in helping so many people.

But by the mid 00’s everything in Brighton had changed. The focus was on the T of the LGBT Charities. The annual Pride celebrations were increasingly dominated by the extreme groups pushing the acceptance of “fetish” rather than LGB.

Behind the scenes the LGB were being sidelined by elements that had other more nefarious objectives, aided by their handmaidens.

I also find it truly pathetic that people keep focusing on about “trans” hate crimes being on the increase and have so little understanding of the concept of Safeguarding.

I was there, so please don’t tell me that I don’t know what exactly happened or that I am talking shit!

People love to talk about how Pride represents resistance and the community still needs it. But it doesn't. It hasn't for a long time. It represents the privileged problems of the TQ set. It's a big party, with some performative "orange man bad" political commentary thrown in as panto.

Think about it. When was the last time you heard about a Pride parade that platformed an ex-Muslim gay person as a speaker? Can you even imagine these events letting someone get up and talk honestly about the homophobia within Islam? Can you imagine them letting a detransitioner speak about how their transition was essentially conversion therapy? Can you imagine them allowing someone to march under a "gays against surrogacy" banner? Can you imagine a gay man as speaker, talking about the harms of chemsex or pornography? Can you imagine anyone fundraising to support the victims of homophobic violence in Uganda?

None of that would be allowed at modern Pride. It would bring the vibe down.

That is impressive. A starkly utilitarian piece of ugly infrastructure plastered with the ghastly design fail that is the designed-by-committee Progress Pride flag.

Disjointed, doesn't line up, mish-mash of non-sequiturs failing to cover up fundamentally poorly thought-through planning. It's certainly a testament.

Ministry of Truth, Ministry of Love.