Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘Ladies and gentlemen’ ban on Tube
Announcements to be gender neutral
TRANSPORT bosses have banned the phrase “ladies and gentlemen” in announcements – to be more inclusive to transgender people.
Staff have been told to use terms such as “good morning, everyone” rather than define people by the two “binary” genders.
New recorded announcements will be made to use across the Transport for London network.
Some commuters have called the move “ludicrous”.
One TFL user said: “There are two genders, male and female, regardless of what you identify as. I’d rather they put more effort into providing a clean, punctual and efficient service.”
Another added: “Anyone who can’t identify as a lady or gentleman is likely to have to cope with much worse things than being excluded by TFL announcements. Ludicrous.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan backed the plan, which follows months of campaigning to make “outdated” phrases more gender neutral. Campaigners said words such as sir and madam belong to yesterday and can cause “great distress”. Bernard Reed, a trustee of Gender Identity Research and Education Society said: “People have a broad spectrum of gender identities, as a man or as a woman or in between or non gender. These diverse identities are increasingly respected within society.” Mayor Khan said: “Provision of an inclusive transport service is at the heart of Tfl’s purpose.”
Mark Evers, of TFL, said: “We want everyone to feel welcome.”