Organization has updated name to better reflect the community it serves
Posted on September 26, 2025
The Manitoba LGBT* Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce a new name for the organization: the Manitoba Queer Chamber of Commerce Inc. The Chamber’s membership voted on the name change at a Special Membership Meeting held on September 22. The motion was carried with the support of over 95% of members in attendance.
The move came after research, community consultation, and discussion, all of which indicated that the membership and the wider 2SLGBTQIA+ business community was ready for the change. Chamber President Kerry Porter expressed enthusiasm for the new name, saying, “I’m genuinely excited about what lies ahead for our Chamber and I’m looking forward to all the new opportunities and developments that this name change brings for us.”
The new name is a significant milestone in the Chamber’s long history, signaling its intention to evolve and expand its reach and impact to the 2SLGBTQIA+ business community. This is not the first time the organization has updated its name, however: the Chamber was founded in 1988 as the Lambda Business and Professional Club of Winnipeg. Eleven years later, in 1999, the name was changed from “Club” to “Association” to reflect the increased membership and to denote “all-inclusive” participation from not only gay and lesbian members but to include gay and lesbian-friendly members. “Winnipeg” was replaced with “Manitoba” at the same time to demonstrate the commitment to serving the business community of the entire province, not just within the city.
In 2013, the board of the Lambda Business and Professional Association of Manitoba decided to form the Manitoba LGBT* Chamber of Commerce in order to more clearly articulate a vision and broader mandate. This change was announced and the new brand was unveiled in fall 2013, and in early 2014, the Chamber was incorporated as a federal not for profit corporation operating in Manitoba.
At that time, the acronym “LGBT” was chosen as a conscious decision to list women first to emphasize the Chamber’s goal for gender equality, and a stylized asterisk was put after the acronym to represent trans, two-spirit, queer, questioning, allies, and others who support our efforts. Verbally, the name was intended to be read as “LGBT-ALL” and thus the symbolic asterisk emphasized inclusion of ALL who support economic success for Manitobans.
Since that time, however, the acronym has changed significantly. “A lot has changed since we incorporated,” said Jenny Steinke-Magnus, Executive Director of the Chamber. “Other letters have been added to the acronym over the years to include a broader spectrum of sexual orientations and gender identities. At the same time, the word ‘queer’ has gained traction to describe the community as a whole. It was definitely time to update our acronym to be more aligned with current practice.”
Over the past few months, thanks to funding from the Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce (CGLCC) and the Government of Canada, the Chamber has significantly strengthened its internal capacity and expanded its outreach to members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ business and non-profit community. Steinke-Magnus explained, “As our team has met with members and affiliated organizations across the country, we have observed that the word ‘queer’ is becoming more and more widespread, particularly among our counterpart chambers.”
As a result, the Chamber had already started to use the term “queer” more frequently in its communications, along with the full acronym “2SLGBTQIA+” when referring to the community. “Many members were already starting to call us ‘the queer chamber,’” said Porter. “Given this reality, and the fact that we are undertaking a rebrand and website update this year, we felt that this was the right time to explore an update to our name.”
Choosing a new name is an important step in the evolution of any organization, so the Chamber was intentional about engaging the membership in the process. In August, the Chamber sent out a community survey asking for feedback. “We wanted to give our diverse community the opportunity to give input in the name change process,” Steinke-Magnus shared. “Our membership currently stands at over 140 businesses, non-profits, and individual professionals and entrepreneurs in the queer and allied community. It was very important to listen to our members’ voices from start to finish.”
The Chamber was also mindful to choose a new name that would be timeless and robust enough to carry the organization well into the future. The new name, which will go by the acronym MQCC, will be just that. The feedback the Chamber received from the community about why people preferred this option noted several key elements about the name:
-
-
- It is simple, clear, professional, and easy to remember, while signaling continuity of the credibility and legacy the Chamber has built over the decades
- Using the word “queer” in the name embraces language that is modern, inclusive, and unifying, reflecting both the evolving language of the community and the inclusive, forward-thinking direction of the Chamber.
- Keeping the “Chamber of Commerce” part of the name clearly expresses the organization’s purpose and what it stands for, while remaining recognizable to members, partners, and the broader business ecosystem and Chamber network
- For the first time since incorporating, the organization has an acronym that is easy to remember and lends itself very well to a new visual brand
- Using the word “queer” in the name offers flexibility and still allows for the Chamber to use the full acronym 2SLGBTQIA+ (or whatever iteration is acceptable at any given time) in its tagline, vision and mission statements, and communications
-
Now that the name has been decided, the Chamber board and staff are busy working behind the scenes on the organization’s new branding, logo, and website. Said Porter, “We are looking forward to unveiling all of these new visual elements in the coming months, and we know that the new name will move our Chamber forward into a new era, where we will be more visible and better situated to serve queer businesses, entrepreneurs, and professionals in our province.”