With all of the creativity the 2SLGBTQIA+ community has at their disposal, it amazes me that they have not yet come up with a better identifier. Their current designation (above) is quite a slog and must drive the media crazy every time they have to type or spell it out. That’s like naming pancakes by the first letter of their contents, FSBPBSSMEB (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, milk, eggs, butter). Imagine going to a restaurant and asking for an order of FSBPBSSMEB for breakfast.  I suppose if you are a member of said community, you have already memorized the acronym, just as we may have memorized our Social Insurance number or cell phone number, but the rest of us are struggling to be compliant.

Despite Trump’s misguided efforts to legislate genders into Male and Female in the United States, any sane person clearly understands it’s not that simple. Just when the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is making historical progress toward equality here in Canada, they’ve saddled themselves with an unpronounceable and cumbersome handle that could use some solid branding and marketing expertise.

With millions of people around the world clearly in the between-male-and-female designation, their fallback acronym no longer works. It’s incumbent upon some of their more gifted creative types to remedy this situation by coming up with a better alternative to 2SLGBTQIA+.

As a retired old boomer who once worked in corporate marketing, I could toss out a few suggestions, even though I risk infringing on the creative potential of those affected. My talents are many, but I am reminded of the wise words of our late company president (Don Smith, founder of EllisDon Corporation). If you want to know how to dig a foundation, ask the guy—oops, person—operating the excavator. Therefore, I think the thinking is best left up to those affected.

OK. Since you insist, I’ll give it a shot. After consulting my trusty old Thesaurus for alternatives to inclusive and flexible, I’ve come up with a few hetero-inspired suggestions. Forgive me if I’m off-base; I am genuinely trying to be helpful here. Compendious, and Panoramic didn’t strike me as being particularly catchy, nor did Betwixt or Between. Trying a different approach, I came up with Harmonized, Middler—no, that’s just stupid. Oh! What about the Spectrum or Spectral community? Obviously, I am not qualified to generate the best branding strategy so I’ll leave that to the 2SLGBTQIA+ experts.

It can’t be easy for individuals who are not clearly one gender or the other to define their identity. On one hand, we shouldn’t have to designate our gender as we are simply all human beings, but society seems to insist we assume a category. Who we choose to love or sleep with is truly no one else’s business, and we shouldn’t have to be labelled, but the world won’t allow us that luxury—yet.

Canadian laws prohibit asking certain questions about gender, racial identity, or religion, but other countries are not as liberal in their thinking. Our gender and sexual preferences should be irrelevant. When we apply for a job, gender should be a non-issue, which is why I’ve always liked androgynous first names on résumés. Taking that premise to its logical conclusion, of course, that would mean no Pride parades (another subject for another day) or His and Hers public washrooms—although they’re slowly disappearing and being replaced by Unisex facilities.

I sympathize with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and support their cause, but they really must come up with a better handle, one less cumbersome. I had to repeatedly “copy and paste” their moniker because I couldn’t keep it straight to retype it otherwise.

Hey! Here’s another idea: The Rainbow Community. That positive image already has momentum, and it spans and unites the spectrum of genders from male to female, and everything in between. It also lends itself to great marketing potential. I hope I’ve been of some help by bringing this issue to your attention. It’s time, and it’s up to you 2SLGBTQIA+ to rebrand yourselves. You can do it! Any suggestions?