Canadian PM Justin Trudeau fumbles over ‘LGBTQ2+’ community during speech
“I will never apologise for standing up for LGDP… LGT… LBG…"
Words: Alastair James; pictures: Wiki
Happy Hump Day plus one to Justin Trudeau, who we’re imagining is very glad that it’s Thursday after a slip-up he made on the campaign trail has been made public.
The Canadian Prime Minister’s Liberal Party narrowly won a snap-election on Monday (20 September) But a clip has emerged showing the Canadian having trouble getting all the letters of the LGBTQ community out in the right order.
This led to some criticism as well as a fair amount of laughter from others. The phrase, try, try again really applies here…
“LGDP… LGT… LBG…”
Speaking to reporters, the PM was asked about a rise in hate crime during his time in office. As part of his answer, in which he also addressed defending a woman’s right to choose, Trudeau said: “I will never apologise for standing up for LGDP… LGT… LBG…,” before being prompted by someone offscreen that it was “LGBTQ2+.”
The “2” means “two-spirit” and is used by indigenous people in Canada to refer to their identity and having masculine and feminine spirits. After getting it right, Trudeau added he would keep standing up for kids’ rights to not have to go to conversion therapy.
On Saturday, @KGallagherCTV asked Justin Trudeau to account for the rise in hate since he became PM, and it’s clear the question *really* flustered him. pic.twitter.com/gaod0HykHk
— 𝘽𝙧𝙮𝙖𝙣 𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙪𝙢𝙚 (@BryanPassifiume) September 14, 2021
It appears Trudeau was struggling in the moment and didn’t mean to mess up, with his frustration at himself clear to see. However, it did not spare the politician from a fair amount of criticism (mainly of his politics) as well as some ridicule, even from within the LGBTQ community.
One person tweeted they were “proud to be a part of LGDP-LGT-LBG-LGBTQ2+ community” and that September is now the new Pride month.
so proud to be a part of LGDP-LGT-LBG-LGBTQ2+ community ❤️ september the new pride for us now https://t.co/wifoq3SxYr
— satyam (taylor’s version) (@sxtyxm_s) September 21, 2021
In 2019, hate crimes against LGBTQ people in Canada saw a 41 percent increase from the previous year, according to Statistics Canada. There were 263 incidents recorded by police, with violent crimes making more than half of those.
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On Saturday, @KGallagherCTV asked Justin Trudeau to account for the rise in hate since he became PM, and it’s clear the question *really* flustered him. pic.twitter.com/gaod0HykHk
— 𝘽𝙧𝙮𝙖𝙣 𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙪𝙢𝙚 (@BryanPassifiume) September 14, 2021