Michelle Visage champions inclusivity at tonight’s Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards 2022

LGBTQ+ ally and host of 2022’s Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, Michelle Visage, showed her continued support for Virgin Atlantic’s updated gender identity policy at tonight’s awards, standing in solidarity with crew members wearing non gendered uniform options.

The sign of support follows Virgin Atlantic’s updated gender identity policy, giving its crew, pilots, and ground team the option to choose which of its iconic uniforms, designed by Vivienne Westwood, best represents them – no matter their gender, gender identity, or gender expression.

The announcement in September was part of an on-going drive to champion the individuality of its people and customers and is complemented by the roll out of optional pronoun badges for all its people and those travelling with the airline. This move enables everyone to clearly communicate and be addressed by their pronouns. The badges will be available to teams and customers from today and customers simply need to ask for their preferred badge at the check in desk or in the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse.

Virgin Atlantic also updated its ticketing systems to allow for those who hold passports with gender neutral gender markers to select ‘U’ or ‘X’ gender codes on their booking as well as the gender-neutral title, ‘Mx’. Currently citizens from a small number of countries including the USA, India and Pakistan, are able to hold these passports and travellers must travel on the codes that match their passport. In lieu of passports with gender neutral gender markers being available for all, Virgin Atlantic is implementing a longer-term plan to amend communication preferences to ensure customers are addressed by their preferred pronouns across all touchpoints.

Michelle Visage commented: “There is no better time to shout about inclusivity and individuality than at the biggest night in the UK’s LGBTQ+ social calendar. As the mother of a non-binary child, and as an ally to the LGBTQ+ community, I know how important it is to allow people to embrace their full selves, and express themselves through clothing.”

Juha Jarvinen, Virgin Atlantic’s Chief Commercial Officer says, “Michelle is a huge ally to the LGBTQ+ community, and to have her support for our updated gender identity policy is an important stamp of approval. At Virgin Atlantic, we believe that everyone can take on the world, no matter who they are. That’s why it’s so important that we enable our people to embrace their individuality and be their true selves at work.”

Launched as part of its ‘Be Yourself’ agenda, the airline has already unveiled a series of industry-leading inclusivity initiatives for its people to ensure they can truly be themselves at work and feel comfortable in their roles. This latest addition follows a decision in 2019 to offer cabin crew the choice whether to wear make-up as well as the option to wear trousers and flat shoes. More recently the airline lifted restrictions around allowing visible tattoos for crew members and its front line people.

Virgin Atlantic has a rich history in supporting the LGBTQ+ community, including being headline sponsor of the Attitude Awards – one of the biggest nights on the LGBTQ+ community calendar – since 2011.

To find out more about Virgin Atlantic’s inclusivity commitments head to https://virg.in/oji6 or follow the airline on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.