Include Mx graphic by Jade Forbes: https://www.instagram.com/nonbinary_baps/
UK retailer Argos, which is owned by Sainsbury’s, has added the gender-neutral title Mx to its online order forms, following years of pressure from Include Mx, a campaign which celebrates organisations that include the gender-neutral title Mx as a title on their forms, and encourages others to adopt Mx.
Include Mx was started by LGBTQ+ activist and journalist Tom Pashby (they/them) in late 2020. It was founded because Tom was forced to misgender themselves in order to buy household items from Argos, due to Argos’s online order form which required a title and didn’t offer one which is suitable for non-binary people.
In summer 2022, Include Mx started a petition on change.org asking Argos to add Mx, which attracted over 12,000 signatures. During the same summer, Include Mx coordinated an open letter, which was signed by Emma Best, Conservative London Assembly member, addressed to the board of Sainsbury’s asking them to use their power to get Argos to add Mx.
Tom Pashby, founder of Include Mx, said: “I am over the moon to see that Argos has added Mx to its forms, finally ending its exclusion of non-binary people.
“Non-binary activists have been asking Argos to add Mx since as early as 2011, and Include Mx has shone the spotlight on this injustice since 2020.
“It should not have taken all this campaigning to pressure Argos into doing the right thing. Brands need to respond much faster to changes in society and implement systems which are inclusive of all their staff and customers.”
Include Mx has been spending Pride Month highlighting major brands which have chose to incorporate the Pride colours into their logos and stating whether they include Mx on their forms.