London Rail Firm Apologises For “Ladies And Gentlemen” Welcome After Non-Binary Backlash
London North Eastern Railway (LNER) has been forced to apologise after the conductor greeted customers by saying “ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls” following a complaint by a non-binary person.
The non-binary passenger, known as Laurence and uses pronouns they and them, tweeted their complaint to the rail network. Laurence wrote on Twitter: “‘Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls…' so as a non-binary person this announcement doesn't actually apply to me so I won't listen.”
As ‘Express’ reports, it is believed Laurence works for the Rail, Maritime and Transport trade union. Following their complaint, LNER was forced to respond and said their train managers should “not be using language” like this.
They replied: “I'm really sorry to see this, Laurence, our Train Managers should not be using language like this, and I thank you for bringing it to my attention.
“Please could you let me know which service you are on and I will ensure they remain as inclusive as we strive to be at LNER.”
Laurence's colleague, Jarley - who also identifies as non-binary - said they were “alarmed” and “uncomfortable” with the lack of inclusion.
Jarley wrote: “Both Laurence and I were customers of the railway - being rail staff does not absolve an operator from the duty of care or responsibility to be inclusive.
“I was sat with Laurence when this tweet was sent.
“Both of us are non-binary and we were both alarmed and uncomfortable by the lack of inclusion.”
The complaint sparked a fierce debate online with Mark Jenkinson, the Conservative MP for Workington, urging this “nonsense” to stop.
He said: “You’d be forgiven for thinking this Train Manager had unleashed a tirade of abuse.
“'Should not be using language like this’.
“He’d actually said ‘Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls’.
“Identify however you like, but can we stop this nonsense?”
Columnist Paul Embery also lashed out at the “utterly ridiculous” complaint.
Julia Hartley-Brewer also tweeted: “Stop pandering to this nonsense.
“Your announcer said nothing wrong. Laurence's complaint is ridiculous.
“No one was excluded or discriminated against. Just do your job of running trains on time and leave the woke politics to someone else with nothing better to do.”
LNER has since confirmed the conductor will not be getting “in trouble” and no action was taken against the member of staff.
In a statement, they said: “We're not bending over backwards to accommodate any one person, we're doing our best to accommodate every person.
“There's the difference.
“We are committed to diversity and inclusion in all that we do for our customers, colleagues and communities, and encourage our onboard teams to welcome all customers onboard.
“Our policies and procedures are reviewed regularly and we will review if any further changes need to be made.”
Read related myGwork articles here:
Japan Airlines Embraces Gender-Neutral Greetings
Berlin Film Festival To Adopt Gender Neutral Performance Awards
Air Canada Is Replacing ‘Ladies And Gentlemen’ With ‘Hello Everyone’ To Be More Gender Inclusive
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