We often get notes on our Facebook account. Many just say, "HI!" and that's it which are hard to respond to and usually go no where. Others recommend stories and ask questions. This weekend we had a question that we could not answer.
Allan from Digos, Philippines wrote:
hi instinct, how do we call the community now? is it lgbt community or lgbtq community? pls give feedback. . . thank you.
I didn't respond to Allan, because I didn't know what to respond. We've covered the debate on here before in many different posts (Is it time to drop the alphabet soup and embrace the word QUEER?) and which letters should we use. It may also depend on which nation you are in. And even some nations use different terms. Some of our posts about Canada have included LGBT+ as well as LGBTQ2, and other nations LGBTI.
So Allan, I don't have an answer and we don't have an answer. What does the Philippines call our community? Should there be a world-wide one phrase fits all nations phrase?
Another message we received was from Latin America, Buenos Aires, Argentina to be exact, and it was from Gonzalo Collado. He wished to share with us Comunidad: LGBTIQ. This caught my eye since this was yet another way of spelling our community name.
Community: LGBTIQ is a documentary film of 60 minutes which tells how the community of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer in Argentina has won respect from year to year, visibility and social rights, both legal and social, thanks an active, committed and supportive of Argentina society as a whole. Shot in Moscow (Russia) and Berlin (Germany) as a point of comparison to the present of Argentina.
Here is the preview of the film that was in the competition circuit for 2015 and has now been released to the public for free. If you don't know Spanish, click the CC (closed captions) button.
In talking with the director, Gonzalo Collado, part two is in the works and will commence in 2017. Argentina will be the focus, but they are looking to compare other countries than they did in Part 1.
To learn more about the Comunidad: LGBTIQ, please check out its Facebook page here.
What I admire about this film is that we as Americans do look at what we have accomplished and I do feel that other nations look to the United States as one of the true success stories in the LGBT Equality fight. But there are other nations that are doing just as well, if not better. We can all learn from the successes and failures of those trying to strive for equality and rights. We can learn from the challenges they have faced and how they beat them or are still struggling to rise. We are a community and that community does reach across national and international borders.
So back to the name. I think it may be a good thing we are not sure what to call us. We're not just LGBT, even though that is how I usually phrase it. But we are other letters and we are open to more. When someone uses LGBTQ or LGBT+ or LGBTQ2 or LGBTQQIA or whatever, know that they are looking for inclusion and not exclusion. We as Americans are trying our best to grow and prosper and fight for all, but we as well recognize the fight that our rainbow families in other nations are going through.
If you desire, you can watch the entire Comunidad: LGBTIQ movie below. It's about an hour in length. Once again, my Spanish is not the best so I had to use the Closed Captions on this one, too.
