LGBTQ+ pronoun add-ons to church name tags

A few months ago we held a workshop on LGBTQ+ topics at our church and one topic was how to let people know what to call you - what pronouns you use.  Some people have started to use little buttons or stickers that say she/her/hers, or whatever they prefer. An important aspect is that not only LGBTQ+ people can wear them, but "allies" can wear them too. That helps prevent anyone from feeling singled out, and communicates that you are LGBTQ+ friendly!

At the end of that workshop my wife and I came up with the idea of making standard pronoun name-tags available for people to use at church, that would look like and blend in with our regular nametags, to normalize the idea.  We developed the idea of a magnetic pronoun tag that would attach to our regular nametags. We are not the first or only church with this idea. A small but growing number of churches and temples around the country are starting to do something like this. 

It had to be just the right thickness to bring the pronoun part "up" to match the level of the name tag part. And the dimensions would need to specifically match the name tags that we buy. We learned that regular badge-makers could not produce such a product. They work with flat sheets of plastic and we needed a 3-dimensional part. So 3D printing was the natural solution.

They would be optional (not everyone will want one), and removable (because people may not be comfortable wearing them all the time) and changeable (because people's gender identity and/or choice of pronoun can change over time, or even day to day). We 3D printed some samples and wore them for a couple of months, in various places to get people’s reactions and spread the idea. 

The great thing about 3D printing is the ability to quickly try out designs. I tried just a plastic back that would go between the name tag (which has a magnetic plate) and the "backer" that has three magnets, so it would be clamped between. That was not secure enough, so I decided the add-on needed magnets too, so it became a sandwich. 

The lettering on the prototypes did not come out very well. I wanted to use a very small nozzle to get finer details, but I knew that would make the rest of the part take a long time to print. I used a filament-switching technique I've learned, to print the main part in black and the front part in white, with the letters "cut out" to let the black show through. It was good enough for a prototype.

Once we had worked out the details, we contacted our badge maker and arranged to have the pronoun parts professionally made in the right size to work with the add-on.

Next I worked on mass-producing them. I worked out a layout that would let me put 15 to 20 at a time on the print bed.

Unfortunately the heating of the bed is not uniform, and the parts in the back and corners would not stick, and would curl up. I eventually settled on an arrangement of 15 at a time. (This being PLA, we were able to rescue some of the curled ones by pressing them with an iron.)

We bought magnets on line and glued them to the back with superglue because the bond needed to be strong. Kind of tricky, and messy at times. I used the regular "backers" on the other side of the parts to align the magnets and keep them in place while drying. Then we glued the pronoun plates to the front with Goop because that does not need to be strong, and if it ever becomes necessary to pull them off for some reason, Goop is relatively peelable.

We produced 130 of these and have made them available at church. They're a big hit!