The PSNI has said allowing individual officers to display gender pronouns on their badges is a “small but important way to acknowledge and respect someone’s identity”.
The force moved to allow officers to display pronouns indicating their gender in September as part of “efforts to become more representative and inclusive”.
The move had previously been discussed at an event in Belfast hosted by the PSNI’s Strategic Community Engagement Team in November last year, which invited representatives from the north’s LGBTQ+ community to take part and provide views on policing.
A summary of the meeting said attendees agreed displaying pronouns “should be an individual choice for officers but that this would assist in showing the PSNI was a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community”.
Displaying pronouns became popular on social media during the 2010s in a bid for users to show solidarity with transgender people, many of whom added pronouns to their profiles to confirm their preferred gender identity.
Their use has devolved into a culture war issue, with right wing social media users and prominent commentators attacking the concept of pronouns being used in this way.
Among those to criticise PSNI officers displaying pronouns is DUP MLA and Policing Board member Trevor Clarke.
Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show on Wednesday, he described the issue as “woke nonsense”.
He added: “Where does it end? What other minority groups do they want to include on their badges as well?”
Mr Clarke said the issue was “causing a division among the force that’s not necessary”.
Former PSNI officer Vincent Creelan, who founded the first Gay Police Association in the north, told the show: “This isn’t going to prevent an officer from doing their job...it’s just us recognising in a small, subtle way, but a very clear way, that the organisation and some individual officers are respected in the service and also they respect the community they are policing.”
A PSNI spokesperson said: “The decision to provide the option to include gender pronouns on name badges was taken in September 2024 to assist the Police Service of Northern Ireland in efforts to become more representative and inclusive, and enable officers and staff to feel supported.
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“Pronouns can be a small but important way to acknowledge and respect someone’s identity. The decision as to whether any officer includes pronouns on their name badge will be for that individual to consider.”
They added: “Officers and staff who do not wish to have pronouns on their name badge will not be in any way required to have them added and this will be a completely voluntary option.”
The move follows the PSNI’s LGBT+ staff support network saying it was “bitterly disappointed” by a decision last year banning officers taking part in Belfast’s Pride march in Belfast from wearing their uniforms.
Meanwhile, in August the force banned members of its riot squad from displaying emblems on their uniforms after an officer was photographed wearing a patch similar to an insignia used by a far-right group in the U.S.
The Tactical Support Group officer wore the patch, similar to the gladiator-style helmet image used by the extremist Three Percenters organisation, during an anti-racism protest in Belfast.
