So a while back, I asked the boss to register and put up ‘Welcome here’ stickers at the clinic.
They’re roughly palm-sized stickers with a rainbow heart in a map icon. They’re obvious but don’t take up that much space and don’t interfere with anybody’s day.
One sits on the reception desk, and one is stuck on the front door. They’re a small gesture that just explicitly states the LGBTQ+ community is, literally, welcome here.
It’s very unobtrusive, and (most) people haven’t mentioned it at all, but the observable results have been:
More Clients specifically adding their same sex partner as another owner on the account.
Some clients that I’ve known for a decade or more actually being comfortable enough to reveal they have a partner in conversation.
More same sex couples calling each other ‘darling’ in front of other people.
A few ‘Mx’ titles on client files.
I want to emphasise that it is a tiny gesture, but it increases the comfort level slightly for quite a lot of people, so I’d recommend it if your workplace can, even if you don’t think it’s relevant.
The only person who has had anything vaguely negative to say has been a notorious problem client, who ‘didn’t see the point’. But obviously the stickers are not for him.
