TORONTO (CP) -- Thousands of Royal Bank clerks are being asked to display rainbow stickers at their desks and cubicles to promote a safe work environment for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals.
The rainbow sticker program is being organized by an employee diversity group within a department of the bank and targets 2,000 clerks at a Royal Bank "warehouse" in Ontario.
The three-month pilot project dubbed "rainbow space" mirrors a U.S. program to promote gay pride used in colleges known as "safe space."
"During the Nazi regime, a pink triangle was used to label gay men and a black triangle was used to label lesbians or other 'anti-socials,' " says a newsletter advocating the use of the rainbow stickers.
"In the late 1970s, the rainbow flag was developed to represent not only pride in having survived and thrived in a world that has often been a hostile place, but also pride in the extraordinary diversity of the community."
Bank spokesman David Moorcroft said Friday the program, which was launched this month, is employee-driven and not part of company policy. He said the Royal Bank's 60,000 employees at locations across Canada will not be asked to participate.
"The program is not going to be rolled out bank-wide," he said.
Moorcroft said the company is open to employee feedback on the initiative.
"Our local diversity committees are always experimenting with trying to figure out how to do a better a job of making all our employees feel included and welcome," he said.