A TRIO who put equality and diversity at the top of the agenda by launching a new business training course six months ago have had a huge response from businesses wanting to know more.

G Sabini-Roberts and Ruth Sabini-Roberts, both from Gobowen, joined forces with Robin Jakumeit, from Stafford, to set up The Queer Box in October.

The Queer Friendly Business Course – which aims to show businesses all they need to know about being inclusive of all genders and sexualities – has since been completed by multiple business owners and employees who gave glowing reviews.

Natalie Lewis, who owns Dynamic HR Services in Cheshire, is one of those who have completed the course.

She said: “I know about diversity from an employment law perspective, but I don’t have an in depth appreciation so this was something I saw as an opportunity.

“I’ve had diversity training but it’s on race, religion and other subjects, very little is actively focused on the LGBTQ+ community.

“We realised very quickly that many of the processes that we support our clients with were not set up for a non binary person and we should have been on it.

“Since the course, we realised that HR software rarely has an Mx option and that our application forms only asked male or female. More that we are now aware of our signs on toilets, not to assume gender but put pronouns in email signatures and to be aware of the language that we use.

“The course was really useful in highlighting important changes, it was easy to absorb and had a really useful definitions guide that comes with it.

“It helped understanding and recognising the practicalities.

“This course could work for a lot of people, I’d like to encourage others, my clients, restaurant owners, parents, anyone can learn and be proactive on being inclusive.”

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The venture started after G sparked discussion on social media on the subject and was approached with questions and requests to share guidance across different forums.

G said: “We are thrilled with the response we have had from businesses who have taken the course.

“Lots of people had learned that there was more to gender and sexuality inclusion than they had thought, and that even though their intentions were good, they had been inadvertently causing offence.

“People who are not an active part of the community themselves said they have understood where prejudice is still a part of business practices and learnt how to best implement changes to make their business more inclusive.

“As business owners we not only have a moral obligation to support inclusivity, but we have an opportunity to be leaders and pioneers in celebrating diversity in everything that we do.”

To find out more about The Queer Box please visit: https://thequeerbox.co.uk/ or https://www.facebook.com/thequeerbox