Posted on August 21, 2025
The Manitoba LGBT* Chamber of Commerce board of directors recently discussed the need to update the name of our organization, given that the acronym that describes the gender and sexually diverse community has significantly changed since the name was chosen. We therefore want to bring the question to our community to help us decide what our new name should be!
Background
The Manitoba LGBT* Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1988 as the Lambda Business and Professional Club of Winnipeg. 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 as well. “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 mandate. This change was announced and the new brand was unveiled in fall 2013, and in early 2014, we were incorporated as a federal not for profit corporation operating in Manitoba.
At that time, the LGBT acronym was chosen as a conscious decision to list women first to emphasize our goal for gender equality, and a stylized asterisk 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.
Current Practice
A lot has changed since 2014, and 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 in recent years to describe the community as a whole. For more context on this topic, check out these links:
CBC Arts: Queer is not a bad word. It’s our unifying path forward
CNN: What it means to be queer
The Journal: Reclaiming the Word Queer: Its History, and How To Use It
THEM: Tyler Ford Explains The History Behind the Word “Queer”
Over the past few months, as the Chamber has revived our activities, and as our team has met with members and affiliated organizations across the country, we have observed that the word queer, although not adopted by all, is becoming more and more widespread, particularly among our counterpart chambers across the country. We have also encountered several updated versions of the acronym (2SLGBTQ, 2SLGBTQ+, 2SLGBTQI+, and 2SLGBTQIA+). Our Chamber is therefore starting to use a mixture of queer and 2SLGBTQIA+ in our communications when referring to the community.
A New Name for Our Chamber
A name change for our Chamber was briefly discussed last fall during strategic planning meetings, but participants agreed to put it on hold until the organization had the internal capacity to move the process along. In the past few months, many members and colleagues we have spoken with have expressed curiosity and confusion over why we are still using an old acronym and have shared anecdotally that they would be supportive of an update to our name. Many are already even calling us “the queer chamber”. Given these realities, and the fact that we are undertaking a major project to rebrand and update our website at this time, the board feels that a name change is very timely.
Choosing a new name is an important step in the evolution of our Chamber. A name carries a lot of history and significance to an organization and the community which it serves. We recognize that there may be differing opinions on what our organization’s name should be and that some people may feel excluded by virtue of the words we choose (ex. using one acronym or another may exclude some folks whose identity doesn’t appear in the acronym, or using queer may not appeal to everyone). However, we also recognize that there is a need to come up with a streamlined name that is reflective of our community and our mandate and that is easy to remember and use. and. And with the time, cost, and legal processes involved in a name change, we want to ensure that a new name will be timeless and robust enough to carry us well into the future.
With all of this in mind, our board and staff team have narrowed down our new name to two possibilities. Note that we would also continue to use a mixture of queer and the full acronym (2SLGBTQIA+, or whatever iteration is acceptable at any given time) in our tagline, vision and mission statements, and communications.
Option 1
Manitoba Queer Chamber of Commerce (MQCC)
This would be the simplest update to make, as our name would remain the same except for the acronym change. This name would clearly express our purpose and what we stand for and the acronym would be easy to remember. Keeping “Chamber of Commerce” would signal that we are the same organization as before the name change, which would help us remain recognizable to our members, supporters as we rebrand.
Option 2
Queer Business Association of Manitoba (QBAM)
This name would be more business-forward, which may be more attractive to partners, sponsors, and collaborators. Using the word Association would provide a sense of unity and a member-driven identity and would indicate opportunities for connection, events, and shared resources with our organization (more so than Chamber of Commerce would). We could also shorten the name to Queer Business MB in practice. On the downside, it may be challenging for people who know us as a chamber of commerce to adapt to a completely new name.
We Need Your Help!
Our board and staff team are looking for the input of our community to help us decide between these two names! We invite all current and past members, as well as supporters in the community to take this short survey by Monday, September 1, 2025. Once we have collected community feedback, we will share the new name with the membership to approve at our Special Membership Meeting on Monday, September 22, 2025. More details will be shared with members about that meeting very soon.