LGBTQ+ History Month: Student nurse initiates badge pronouns

From February 2022, School of Sport and Health Sciences’ students who have a health and social care placement will have their identifiable pronouns added to their name badges. New nursing students will now be asked for their preferred pronouns, as well as their preferred name. The updated badge process was initiated by second-year student nurse Molly Tucker, who is studying children’s nursing at Brighton. 

Molly, whose pronouns are they/them and identifies as non-binary, said: “I’ve been on a little journey of gender identity recently and it’s a really difficult thing to come out to people. Anyone in the LGBTQ+ community will tell you this. When your pronouns change you constantly have to correct people, and that’s really tiring, and so if you have it on your badge then it’s really helpful.” 

Molly messaged the School of Sport and Health Sciences when they were told that they would have to write their pronouns on their badge. Molly said: “I thought this a little unfair on my badge alone, as others weren’t currently doing this and so I bought the conversation home. My housemates encouraged me to speak to the School managers to ask if we could have our pronouns added – so I emailed them immediately. I was overjoyed when they agreed. 

“From now on, every student will have the option of having ‘he/him’, ‘she/her’, ‘they/them’, ‘she/they’, ‘he/they’, other or none added to their badge. This is a great win for LGBTQ+ equality, especially during LGBTQ+ History Month.” 

Name badges are mainly worn on placement, so a student is easily identifiable to other people. Until now, the name badge only included their preferred first name and course. Emily Hastings, Deputy School Admin Manager for the School of Sport and Health Sciences, said: “We are really glad that Molly took the initiative on this and decided to contact us. We’re happy that we have been able to make this happen for the new cohorts starting in February 2022. The School has a limited budget for badges so the School would not be able to replace all existing students badges, but badges with pronouns can be requested on an adhoc basis.”

Don’t forget to check out the full programme of events happening this LGBTQ+ History Month for University of Brighton staff and students, and join our dedicated Teams channel to access online events and resources.