Customers of Halifax have threatened to close their accounts in response to the company’s ‘nonsense’ decision to add pronouns to the name badges of its employees.
The change, which the bank stated would be optional for personnel, was announced yesterday on Twitter.
It displayed a picture of a female employee’s name badge with the words “she/her/hers” in brackets beside a post that said “pronouns matter” and the hashtag “ItsAPeopleThing.”
Some customers criticized the change right once and stated that they wished to close their accounts.
One person commented, “I was hoping this was a spoof photo on a parody account for a second there, but I noticed the verified tick so I’m thinking I should shut my Halifax account and take my money elsewhere.”
One more merely inquired, “How can I close my account?”
The bank defended its new policy in response to the criticism in response to the tweets.
We strive for inclusivity, equality, and, to put it simply, doing what’s right, it said in one of the posts. You are free to close your account if you don’t agree with our principles.
Customers who wanted to close their accounts were told by the bank that they either call them or submit a written request.
Another critic questioned the validity of using pronouns while “things like climate change and war” are taking place.
In a direct response to the tweet, Halifax wrote: “We want to provide a secure and tolerant workplace that opens the conversation surrounding gender identification,” written by staff member “Dave.”
We consider our clients’ and employees’ personal preferences seriously, thus for us, there is a very straightforward fix for inadvertent gender misidentification.
A fourth person reported that after viewing the new policy, they had already closed their account.
Some Twitter users, though, supported the decision.
Thank you for being inclusive, one person said. Although I’m sorry they had to deal with the transphobes, your social media crew is doing a fantastic job.
The decision by Halifax is being contested by transgender athletes who compete in sports.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated earlier this week that there is a distinction between being a woman and being a trans woman and that a person “cannot be born with a penis without being a male.”
The world governing body for swimming, Fina, announced last week that it was altering its rules so that transgender women would only be permitted to compete in the organization’s female races if they had finished their transition by the age of 12.
Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, also said at a conference of governing organizations that pitting women and teenage girls against biological men was “inherently unfair.”
She did support the introduction of new “open categories” that would let transgender women compete in both gender-neutral sports and against males.
The BBC also refused to bow down to pro-trans activists’ demands that Sharron Davies be fired from her position as host of this summer’s Commonwealth Games.
The former Olympic swimmer has advocated for the exclusion of transgender women from participation in women’s sports.
She has endured harassment for her opposition to the demands of campaigners, including threats of death.