Bear necessities

We are sending Bear on a special ‘Be Like Bear’ tour around the UK to raise awareness of our support for transgender colleagues, their friends, allies and managers in the workplace.

Bear is neither a he nor a she: Bear is Bear. Bear will be travelling from office to office equipped with a journal for colleagues to add their name and location to, as well as any comments or inspirational messages they may wish to include. 

Grab a selfie, sign the journal and send Bear off to a different office. Bear has no set travel itinerary but you can send Bear by special delivery to any colleague in the business.

Bear will be wearing a transgender pride flag scarf. The flag was designed by Monica Helms, an openly transgender American woman in August 1999. She describes the meaning of the flag: ‘The stripes at the top and bottom are light blue,the traditional colour for baby boys. The stripes next to them are pink,the traditional colour for baby girls.

‘The stripe in the middle is white,for those who are inter-sex, transitioning or who consider themselves having a neutral or undefined gender. The pattern is such that no matter which way you fly it, it is always correct, signifying us finding correctness in our lives.’

You can share your selfies with Bear on our Facebook page or email them to LGBT&Friends@royalmail.com. We will include them in a special edition Be Like Bear newsletter to be published in the coming months.

Bear will also be accompanied by a letter explaining how you can find out more about our transgender network. Bear’s epic journey will be starting soon.

To join the LGBT&Friends Facebook group, just send an email to LGBT&Friends@royalmail.com with your pay number and the email address that you use to sign into Facebook.