Take a moment to catch your breath…
A Canadian socialist lawmaker recently found herself at the center of an online uproar after using the extensive acronym MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ during a live press conference. Her attempt to highlight her progressive stance quickly became a target for satire.
Leah Gazan, age 53, introduced this comprehensive term while expressing her dismay over a proposed $7 billion reduction in funding for two federal departments dedicated to indigenous affairs.
“When the budget was unveiled, I was stunned to learn that Prime Minister Carney is slashing $7 billion from Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations,” Gazan stated, as seen in footage circulated by Juno News.
Without missing a beat or consulting her notes, she continued, “No funds were allocated to address the ongoing genocide affecting MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ communities.” Her delivery was both serious and composed.
“This is not just shocking; it is utterly heartless,” she declared.
The 16-characters in MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ stand for “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual,” with the plus-sign encompassing any other gender-identity not covered by the nearly paragraph-long initialism. The gigantically long acronym is used by the Canadian government to highlight rates of violence against Indigenous women and girls.
Gazan, whose X handle is “Leah ProudLakota (she/her),” later took to X to tout her appearance at the press conference, in which she scaled back the farcically long acronym to the Canadian standard “2SLGBTQQIA+.”
She locked down comments on the post in an apparent attempt to stanch the torrent of mockery her made-up acronym invited.
“She is so serious and has zero self-awareness of how ridiculous she sounds,” one user wrote.
“New super strong password just dropped,” another commenter mocked the far-left lawmaker.
“So, if I understand this correctly, straight people are now included as long as they’ve been murdered?” a third inquired.
The lefty MP faced controversy in 2022 with an X post baselessly and incorrectly claiming the US aid being sent to Ukraine was being sent to “antisemitic, neo-Nazi & fascist militia.”
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress asked for a retraction and apology, which Gazan did not provide.
The MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ fiasco isn’t the first time Canada has gone viral for making up a mouthful of an acronym to represent the gay and queer community.
In 2017, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario went viral for a flyer advertising a “LGGBDTTTIQQAAPP” inclusiveness training session.
“LGGBDTTTIQQAAPP” stands for “lesbian, gay, genderqueer, bisexual, demisexual, transgender, transsexual, twospirit, intersex, queer, questioning, asexual, allies, pansexual, polyamorous.”
The Post reached out to Gazan but did not immediately hear back.
