Monthly Archives: November 2017

#SigningSaturday 18-11-17

Ciao!

It’s #SigningSaturday & this week it’s #HIVTestWeek – #KnowYourStatus #EndTheStigma 👍 #GetTheNationSigning it’s #Fun2Sign @THTorguk @startswith_me @SCoRMembers @WeAHPs

Maybe an easier one next week! 😂

B 👋

#LGBT+ visibility as an @WeAHPs

Greetings!

Earlier this week I ran a poll on Twitter asking:

lgbtpoll

Said @mandslgbt badge looking like:

mandslgbt

Whilst the poll only gathered 14 votes, the discussions that went with it were, I feel, the most important outcome. I even inspired the great @AmandaBoldersto to blog about it! 😂 The Twitter poll stemmed from a conversation I had with Amanda back in July @UKRCO2017 in Manchester. As you can see from the poll results above, although a majority agreed they would wear such a badge, the undecided’s and no’s combined were of a greater number. Now of course with so few participants it’s very difficult to draw any significant conclusions, however, I include some of the anonymised comments below to give you a feel for the discussion:

  • “Think this is a personal choice to wear 🏳️‍🌈 if complys with uniform regs and is to be recognised by trusts but not funded by trusts.”
  • “Visibility important for patients and staff. Can identify as an LGBT+ ally rather than declaring your own sexual orientation”
  • “We need to support each other and help our colleagues to support our patients better”
  • “I see how it could make some pts more comfortable. And I love the strong role model idea. That works in all walks of life. I hope it’s a bridge to a future of better understanding and acceptance where it’s no longer needed.”
  • “Don’t hospitals ban the wearing of anything indicating a religion? Or just crosses on necklaces?”
  • I WISH we lived in a world where no one felt they had to advertise their status to make others feel more comfortable. It makes me sad that anyone would be more comfortable about ‘admitting’ (sounds like it’s a crime), their status because other people were wearing a badge (although I understand why). I wish we could all just be people who fall in love with other people
  • “I’d wear it. However I’d be anxious of the reaction of pts when they ask what it means.”
  • “The enhanced awareness is obviously good but the labelling makes me pause. Not sure I agree. A slippery slope perhaps?”

I myself, happy to be open about my sexuality in both my private and work life with friends and colleagues would be unsure about wearing such a badge openly ‘advertising’ my LGBT+ status to patients. Whilst I appreciate the arguments put forward in support of wearing such badge, I personally do not think (at present, at least) it is something I agree with. As in the comments above, we do not allow staff to display badges declaring their religion, so why should we favour one protected characteristic of the Equality Act (2010) over another? Surely if we go down the route of wearing badges to ‘advertise’ our own particular protected characteristic, be it LGBT+, religion, marital status etc., then most likely we’ll all end up wearing a badge of some description!

Interesting discussion though. Thanks @AmandaBoldersto for asking the question in the first place. I hope the discussion continues though and maybe this is a future topic for a paper in radiography!

Thanks for reading!

Ben (🏳️‍🌈 😂)