Being offended on behalf of others is a bit of a pastime for some.

In The UK, we had a lady back in the '70s called Mary Whitehouse who set up some committee or other other (google it if you are not as lazy as me) that tried dictating to The BBC and government about moral standards etc. Not so much giving a voice under free speech of course, but to stifle voices of others.

In the meantime, officials who carry out the silly antics mentioned in this thread do so because they are taught to work to protocols, the bane of the public sector. They tend to interpret in the name of equality because they have been told to by management that sees initiative as a risk.

There are some extreme examples of how petty officialdom lead to adherence of government policy that could only be implemented if the petty officials played ball game with the political leaders. Sadly, to give such an example would denigrate this debate to the levels of The Godwin Principle.

Best to tell them to bugger off with their warped process they call equality. I do.