Hi SQLBunny! Could you tell us if you've been in a similar situation yourself or did you see someone close to you try this solution? It'd be great for OP to know that this was tried before and what to expect when they do follow your advice. You may learn more about citation expectations here; feel free to reach out if you need further help. Thanks in advance! — avazula ♦ 1 min ago

"What does the fox say?" I really hope it isn't a pet fox. They sound like a banshee... — Nelson 1 min ago

A computer game is, by far, one of the most difficult product to create. Your audience, when they are vocal, are pubescent teens. They will insult you to the ends of the earth. They really have no idea what they want, and if you give them exactly what they want, they will not be responsible for the consequences of it. They will also constantly try to cheat when you interact with other players, so the amount of security needed is absurd. Then you have many people who want your game for free, so that's another layer of security. I love playing games. I don't want to make them... — Nelson 21 secs ago

Probably not enough for an answer but I would say that you talk about how you found the place rather than who you found the place with. — R.Joshi 1 min ago

I agree to a certain extent. I feel that if I constantly tell "with a friend of mine" or "with that friend I told you about" it will introduce more confusion, and sooner or later she will ask who is that friend I'm constantly talking about, which leads to the initial question. I think it's impossible to completely hide all other people you've done things with, I don't want to come off as a solitary maniac. — Colonder 1 min ago

@Beanluc I think it's strongly linked to my question, yes — Colonder 1 min ago

Hey johstone, welcome to IPS! Just to be sure, and clarify things a little, I have a few more questions for you: You know who you have to communicate to, as you mention an admin team in charge of this stuff? Can an answer assume that you can communicate to 1 specific person, or would you need to communicate with an entire team (if so, how many people are on it)? Do you have a direct and (semi-)private possibility of communicating with them (like e-mail, or a discrete phone call)? Do you have any clues as to what your coworkers think of the decorations still being around? — Tinkeringbell ♦ 22 secs ago

What is the goal you are trying to achieve by taking down the decorations? — Pyritie 1 min ago

@Tinkeringbell added more info — johstone 1 min ago

That looks good, thank you! — Tinkeringbell ♦ 1 min ago

I think you should be asking yourself how serious this relationship is if you feel you can talk to random strangers about this but can't talk to your girlfriend about it. — Michael Kay 2 mins ago

@MichaelKay Who said I can't/couldn't? The problem is not whether I can, rather how should I phrase it such that it won't cause trust issues or problems. I do not believe that all couples talk about everything completely openly - and if they do, it's still the matter of expressing everything correctly, in the right moment and place. Besides, I do not talk with random strangers about my personal life. — Colonder 40 secs ago

Are the decorations meant to be re-used or just cheap throw away stuff? — Johns-305 1 min ago

Regardless of which strategy you choose you should probably not lead with "for clarification, I am not anti-LGBTQ.". I can't think of a situation where that reads as intended. — monocell 54 secs ago

Coming from a workplace perspective, this will only make you look bad. If a couple decorations prevent you from getting work done, then I would take that to mean you are easily distractable and not putting in much effort at work. I understand the argument to make the decorations a business (and therefore money) problem, but I think this will backfire. — David K 56 secs ago

@DavidK I don't follow with your reasoning. I explicitly mentioned that this aproach has shown to work already for my coworkers, what makes you think otherwise? — Imus 1 min ago

Because if someone sent me that email, that's what I would think. Unless they move, light up, or make noise, no decorations should be enough to prevent you from doing your work. Yes, they might be annoying and an eyesore, but saying they are preventing you from getting work done is a clear exaggeration just so you can get your way. Just because the decorations got taken down doesn't mean that it didn't reflect badly on the person who requested it. — David K 47 secs ago

Imus : agree with @david-k as "decorations are distracting me from getting my work done" will not only make you look bad but may also backfire. Why? nobody will tell you directly, but badmouthing will spread all around fast. I've seen that happen before too... — OldPadawan 1 min ago

How are other decorations treated in your office? E.g. are Christmas decorations removed right away after Christmas? Is pride month the only time where minority/political statement decorations are used in your office? — Niko1978 37 secs ago

@Niko1978 Christmas decorations are removed after epiphany, traditional thought as the end of christmas. — johstone 53 secs ago

@monocell I just wanted to avoid confusions from the start. In SE it is not uncommon to be downvoted merely for not agreeing, rather for the quality of the question itself. — johstone 1 min ago

For what it is worth, I also believe that email would come off as self-glorifying and patronizing in both offices I have worked at, especially the one closer in size to the one OP described. — Reubens4Dinner 1 min ago

Hi there! Welcome to IPS. I'm sorry, but I'm not sure how we could help with this because asking for what to do is off topic on IPS and it seems that it's something that would be up to you - it's your son's birthday, therefore your family's choice. I'm not aware of any etiquette stating what you should engrave on birthday gifts. You may find more information about our site and its purpose here, and feel free to reach us if you have any questions. — avazula ♦ 22 secs ago

Hi there! Could you tell us more about your experience about the matter? It seems that you are trying to convince OP not to achieve their goal of asking to remove the decorations. Although frame challenging answers are totally okay here, we expect answerers to explain why they think that OP's goal is unreachable and why. Also, it'd be great if you could include info about your personal experience on related matters: it'll help OP know why they shouldn't pursue their goal as someone tried before and it didn't work. Could you please edit your answer to include this information? — avazula ♦ 8 secs ago

Similarly to monocell's comment, I would strongly caution against using the phrase "Identity Politics" in your request. It's a pretty loaded phrase. — Tylerelyt 58 secs ago

Reminds me of a picture I saw this year of a person painting a rainbow-colored wall white and the caption read "Businesses on July 1st"... — Lux Claridge 1 min ago

"the company has already positioned itself in the political spectrum by putting the stuff up in the first place". You are basically saying that if you ever showed support for a given cause, you must do it in the exact fashion every day of the year. I disagree. We sometimes help the campaign of the local homeless agency too. But we cannot do this all year around, with every single cause out there. Again, if we spend time, energy and other resources (space, public image, etc) on many causes, these end up being a distraction from our core value production. We must, in the end, make money. — johstone 32 secs ago

@johstone If I am to place myself in a fire starter position I could argue you want to spend this time and energy to take stuff down instead of focusing on working and making money (which like you say is the core value), and that you are putting your own political agenda ahead of the company's goals. Again, if you are not responsible for the appearance of the company and nobody that is responsible has asked your opinion on the matter, my answer is do not intervene. — lucasgcb 19 secs ago

@Johns-305 reusable for sure. — johstone just now

Very interesting and I’m sure this is relevant. The thing is that I think he also finds the idea that “other people just react to him better than to others” a bit disturbing. Can that be helped? — Mark Green 2 mins ago

I agree. Political involvement of a company is a permanent thing across the entire year. From history, remember increasingly mandatory decoration of buildings (even corporate) on the rise of nazi Germany or in communist Soviet Union. How would one protest against removal of swastikas or red stars and stay unharmed? If there is a new ideology on the rise, any protesters have problem, what is a confirmed by hundreds of preserved stories. So the answer "You don't" is the most helpful when the OP wants to go with masses, get their monthly wage and save themselves from inevitable harm. — miroxlav 36 secs ago

@miroxlav your "protest", if you are that adamant about politics, is leaving the company. Getting people on your rear over politics is something you don't want to start at work of ALL places specially when it is over something forgettable like decorations. Also, how the hell did you even trigger Godwin's Law here? I'm losing my mind — lucasgcb 1 min ago

@avazula meop isn't suggesting the decorations stay up, the suggestion is to ask to replace them with something else, and then remove the "something else" at a later date. — Alexandre Aubrey just now

If you'd like to write an answer, make sure to check out our posts on How do I write a good answer? and citation expectations first. Thanks! — Imus 16 secs ago

Hello network visitors! Please note that IPS is fairly strict about using comments as intended. Comments are only for clarifying and improving the question. Partial answers or general thoughts about the situation may be deleted without notice. — Imus 27 secs ago

e.g "Can I replace the flags with promotion posters for this event which helps homeless people? The event is this weekend." Once you get permission you can replace LGBT flags with posters, remove posters Monday morning once the event is over and walls are clear. — Alexandre Aubrey 1 min ago

It could be a touchy subject, with risk. Or maybe everyone is afraid to say or do anything because no one else is saying or doing anything first. ;-) — donjuedo 53 secs ago

@Imus you should complain about that issue by starting discussion on the meta not here in the comments. — Džuris 11 secs ago

This doesn't answer the question asked, which is how to have a conversation about taking the decorations down now that the event is over. — Joe 1 min ago

I can only agree and I turned my original supportive comment into a separate answer. — miroxlav 1 min ago

You're not answering OP's question (how to ask without seeming anti-LGBT), instead you are just speaking your mind about a different topic. This is not a discussion forum. — Captain Man 14 secs ago

@miroxlav I... honestly can't tell if that's sarcasm or not. In either case, the protest is leaving the company. Trying to politically engage (which is OP's stance on the subject) from within in a position of little influence is pointless and can even damage your career. — lucasgcb 36 secs ago

@lucasgcb – didn't I say the same? :) I see that you are missing the experience of being on an opposite side of an ideology. Do you think that in 1988 I could say at the workplace "please remove that red star as the celebration of Great October Socialist Revolution is now 3 weeks over" and stay without consequences? So no, this is not a sarcasm. What country are you from that you do not recognize this? — miroxlav 38 secs ago

What interpersonal skills would you be using or developing in this question? Right now, this would be very opinion based, and might be closed as such. — ElizB 10 secs ago

This assumes that the decorations simply haven't been forgotten. The OP's staff may have missed a reminder to take the decorations down and have glossed over the fact they are still there. That's easy enough to do when something "has been there forever". If you don't make a reminder request, they may be up until the next holiday. At that point, do you leave it up because taking it down offends someone? You then get into a problem where you never take any decorations down for fear of offending someone. — computercarguy 1 min ago

Just to be clear, the reason you're getting downvoted is that you are comparing support of LGBT rights to support of Facism. They aren't comparable, and you and I both know that. This answer could be "improved" by removing the comparison, but that alone would probably not salvage it and make it a helpful answer. I doubt anyone downvoting you, myself included, really has anything to offer you to that would do so, which is why you're not getting comments. — Tylerelyt 1 min ago

@computercarguy is OP part of the staff in charge of appearance? No? Then don't worry about it, it is absolutely not worth it specially since OP is indeed politically charged about it. Pride is not a holiday or even just a month - this isn't the same as Christmas decoration - as stated. — lucasgcb 11 secs ago

@Tylerelyt – all rising ideologies have similar traits of how they start to dominate and how they handle their enemies. Not the name, but the methods are comparable and I am attempting to highlight that. The OP can get harmed without knowing this. Do not take that personally and thanks for the comment. I'll update the answer. — miroxlav 31 secs ago

@lucasgcb, so if there was an incorrect, unrelated Google review of their business, shouldn't they mention this to their boss/manager even if they aren't part of the media dept? In the business world, there's a lot to be said about appearances. If you appear to be any one thing, especially if it can be taken negatively, the company could be branded that way and potentially lose business. Granted, a business might not care to lose anti-LGBTQ customers, but it's still lost revenue. Generally, it's best to make a simple query to maintain workplace neutrality. — computercarguy 1 min ago

@computercarguy Look, it's both in and outside the office and if other people can see it so can whoever put it up, if it hasn't been put down yet it's because they think it should be there and yes they definitely don't care if they lose anti-whatever customers specially since they decided to drag the whole company in the event in favor of whatever in the first place. Trust me you do not want to bother yourself with this sort of crap if all you have isn't objective evidence that the things in question are an issue (like it being a fire hazard or something). — lucasgcb 1 min ago

@lucasgcb, Hanlon's razor says "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." I'll modify it to "Never attribute to policy that which can be adequately explained by forgetfulness." Ever looked for something you are already holding onto? Yeah, it's kind of like that. — computercarguy 1 min ago

@computercarguy We are both answering based on our assumptions so you are free to leave an answer yourself. I still think not acting upon it is optimal in either case, since OP is not responsible about this sort of thing and is politically charged about it (even if the charge is neutrality). — lucasgcb 1 min ago

“your attempts to defend yourself makes you more likely to be criticized” This really says something about the attitude of such groups. “If she dares to defend herself, she’s a witch/counterrevolutionary!” — user76284 1 min ago

@lucasgcb – thanks for the feedback, now I updated my answer so you can better understand that similar things already were a reality in Central Europe. Btw where are you from? — miroxlav 1 min ago

@miroxlav I am from Brazil. — lucasgcb 1 min ago