Canada advises LGBTQ2 travellers to be aware of U.S. state laws

LGBTQ2 - the long-awaited sequel.

Best thing since they announced pussy 2

There was a petition to offer refugee status to LGBT Americans put before the House of Commons recently, I just got an email update about it because I signed it, and apparently they accept some refugees on this basis, but it doesn't look like many. I say open the borders and bring me your gays, America. We'll be nicer to them than you are.

My fiance and I have been looking into moving to Canada. He's a librarian in a small town and things are not looking so great.
- It's really expensive unfortunately, but it's a hell of a lot safer by and large.
- Please promise to not vote for any Conservatives and we'll welcome you with open arms
- Come stay with me. You just gotta walk my dog if I'm late from work.
I was born to go dance and cycle all over montreal. Im in a northern state, rural, fuck all going on here.
- To be honest a lot of Canada is very provincial in location and mental state. But at least we're mostly nice.
TERF Island is welcoming the whole LGBT?

The "2" is for two-spirited which is a traditional Native American concept and that is neat.

So no LGBTQ sequel? 😥 /j
What's wild about "two-spirit" is that it's not a really definite concept (that is, it is a neologism from 1990 that does not have a universal understanding among tribal traditions) but what it does accomplish is replacing the perjorative European anthropological term ::: spoiler slur berdache, from Arabic burdaj "slave" meaning basically a young male submissive gay partner :::
- TIL that term is considered a slur. I remember learning about them in anthropology class ~15 years ago and that was the term used.
  So is the respectful terminology today to use whichever modern LGBTQ label is accurate, or should I use two-spirit in historical context?

Ah yes, the sequel LGBTQ2: Electric Boogaloo
I mean, it's for 2 spirit. Pretty rude comment to make on an article like this by the way.
- Genuinely curious, what is 2 spirit? I try to stay hip with the lingo but that one's new to me
When Republicans call us stupid, this is the reason.... Seriously, they are adding numbers now....
I'm done adding to it. Instead, I'm waiting for when sexually rigid and prude people are the minority instead, so that eventually "LGBTQ2..." becomes "regular people" and the prudes are the ones singled out as different.
- We don't want none of those spits cishets round these parts, now do we? You best turn right back round from where ya came, straight boy.

Wow.. that #2 seems to have taken this article hostage.

Imagine if it were at the beginning like it is ually displayed in Canada.
Two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning or intersex - or 2SLGBTQI+ for short.
I assume they meant + and it's some kind of typo
- It's "two spirit", which is an indigenous term.

It means two-spirited and it's part of an Indigenous concept of gender and worldview.
- Thank you! 2 Spirited was my first introduction to what it meant to be Queer, and it's pretty cool to see this variation on the acronym.
It's more relevant for NA, it's an indigenous thing iirc.
- Jesus. At this point can we just say LGBTO and have the O mean Others? It's getting cringy af, and I'm saying that as a trans person.
- You get to be in the acronym. But you're on your own for affordable food.
- this is so stupid lol

There's a part 2 now? How much better is it? Or is the original always the best?

laughs in Aliens and Terminator 2
- Aliens and Terminator 2 was really the surprise crossover hit of the decade.
The first one did not become as popular as many people hoped. Yet, plenty remain hopeful that the imminent sequel faces less stigma.

Damn. New version already?

LGBTQ what now?

Two-Spirited. Apparently it's a Native American term used to indicate a third gender.

LGBTQ2: Electric Bugaloo

“Not all countries have the same values and legal system that we have in Canada. As a result, it is important for you to be informed about the legal framework and social customs governing sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics in your destination country,” that page notes.

Wow, way to understate that. I suppose they have to downplay it though because if they were honest about the state of the US then they'd have to acknowledge that large swaths of the US can no longer be considered even remotely safe for members of the LGBT community. As such, they would have to consider the possibility that of members of the LGBT community might seek asylum in Canada and if so, that they could no longer turn them away on the basis that the US is a safe harbor (iirc many countries ban US citizens from seeking asylum because the US is supposed to be a "safe country").

Edit: Canada likes to claim that LGBT people from the US and UK can achieve refugee status, however the US-Canada Safe Third Country agreement says otherwise. Note that while there are exceptions to the agreement, none of them involve people who are members of the LGBT and/or BIPOC communities. In fact, it sounds like, based on the canada.ca link, that Canada recently expanded it to make it harder for people to claim refugee status if they're coming from the US, which is kinda the opposite of what they should be doing.

I hope the new v2 update doesn't come with a battlepass.

Where can I find the patch notes?

I can't say I blame them.

Strangely Canada is the only country I travelled to from Europe where I was verbally asked in their airport border control: if I was Mormon, as not, what my religion was, and if I was gay. Not the tolerant country I always heard about.

I live in Canada and I've never heard of this happening. Did they just straight up ask you this at customs?
- Yes, he was the police admission controller in the airport. The one who decides if you can access it not the country. I was 21yo. I dislike people don't believing me but that supports the fact that those questions were as inappropriated as I always thought.
At least make the lie believable
- I don't lie but you won't believe what you don't want to. Therefore, bye.
I don't believe you.
- Is up to you to deny this reality I can do nothing else then tell what happened to me.
What? That's definitely an exception.
- This was my awkward episode in Canada as I expected the country to be open minded and tolerant.
You were getting hit on by a gay ex-Mormon. He was awkward. He wants you to know he's sorry he made you uncomfortable.

Damn all these comments discrediting the 2, just like all the NA migrants discredit Native Americans rights.

Talk about doubling down on bigotry towards a race of people. Sheeesh, some of y'all are hypocritical.

I think there's not very much discrediting. Mostly just confusion over what the 2 means. I agree that the 2 is warranted when discussing queer Canadians.

honest question, what's this "two-spirit" term? I can't find a straight forward explanation on the web

Two Spirit is a non binary identity with a specific cultural context within the history of indigenous peoples. In Canada, due to the increased focus on dealing with the reconciliation of Indigenous peoples the current Acronym is 2SLGBTQIA as it sort of symbolicly puts precedent on amplifying indigenous voices in the movement.
Most places in the world recognize two genders and their respective social roles: men and women. Some places recognize a third gender and its respective social and/or ceremonial role. This is the case for (some) North American Indigenous people, and two-spirit is a catch-all term to refer to a third gender role that they recognize.
It's hard to map onto the more standard two gender system that most of us are familiar with. When you think of men as the breadwinners and women as the child bearers, some cultures think of an additional distinct third gender with a designated social/ceremonial role.
But as you might have thought while reading that, men being the breadwinners and women being the child bearers is already a fairly outdated view of gender and social roles. Turns out social constructs are messier than they seem when you start to really analyze them and attempt to strictly define them.
TLDR: two-spirit is a catch-all term for a type of queer identity recognized by some North American Indigenous cultures.
- So, at risk of being reductive: it’s like non-binary, but in the way some North American indigenous cultures see it
AFAIK, it's basically people with different spirits inside them, falls in the gender queer domain, like being trans/NB (not a sexual orientation). So someone could have a male spirit and female spirit, or a female spirit and a nb spirit.
It primarily seems to be a First Nations/Native American identity, and appears to have a decently long history throughout time.
It also has a kinda cool flag.
Two spirit in a Canadian Indigenous context refers to people who identify as having two spirits inside of them. They have the spirits of both a man and a woman, so outside Indigenous culture I think the most related term would be non-binary.

So nice to see public safety taken seriously. I don't fit into the letters but also know full well that if a state is that intolerant then I won't fare well either so I avoid said state. With the atmosphere some states are building , anyone can be caught up in their net of Others to be othered. Hell they can just make shit up as they are doing already, logic and reasoning are not a part of this whole scheme.

They're "adding fucken' numbers" because the 2 counts for 2-spirited, an indigenous Canadian and American concept that they are respecting. And you should fucken' respect it too considering what has been done to those indigenous people in the last 500 years.

What are you talking about?

IA was a thing for a second, there seems to be more strands of this than Covid...