We were never the problem here

Most of you have done this today.

You walked into a room. Maybe this page counts. Maybe it was the bus, or a work meeting, or your own bathroom mirror, before you'd even left the house. And before you'd even clocked it, some part of your brain was already working. Who'll be there? How soon can I leave? Can I be as loud as I want? Who's watching me. Where's my way out. Can I actually be me in here. Or some variation particular to you

We call that the calculation.

Check the room. Assess how much of yourself is safe to show. Perform whatever version of you gets you through it. Replay it afterwards, just to check you got it right. Four steps, about two seconds, every room, every day.

Most people standing near us have never run it once in their life.

We've spent years building bobu around that gap, between the people who calculate constantly and the spaces that have no idea they're asking them to. And the more of this work we do, the more we notice the same pattern showing up everywhere.

Wherever it shows up, people assume it means the space is safe. But there's no evidence anyone inside actually knows what to do if something goes wrong.

A safe space claim is a promise.

And right now, in the UK, any business can make that promise with nothing behind it. No training. No plan. No one who actually knows what to do if someone needs help.

So we're asking Parliament to change that. Our petition, No Claim Without Training, asks the government to require real training before any business can advertise itself as a safe space. Not more paperwork. Not another logo. Just the basic, obvious thing: if you're going to say it, mean it.

This isn't about catching anyone out. A poster (a sticker, a line on a website, anything like it) is the easy version of this. It goes up in an afternoon. Training takes weeks, costs money, and means admitting your staff aren't ready yet. But a claim that stops at the poster and goes no further was never going to hold up the moment something actually happened. That's exactly why we're asking that every safe space claim be backed by credible, verifiable training.

We're not asking businesses to do more. We're asking them to make good on what they've already claimed.

If you've ever paused at a doorway, checked a room, or wondered whether it was safe to be yourself, you already know why this matters. And if your work brings you alongside people who are vulnerable, marginalised, or new to a place, this isn't abstract for you either.

And so you see, we were never the problem here.

Be part of the change. We get to choose what happens next.

Sign the petition here → https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/772748