PSA: Queer
Jun. 18th, 2010 11:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rm(This is an outgrowth of a comment thread I'm having with someone in their journal. If that someone is you, no worries, we're cool).
Queer (as an adjective, we will not be using the noun here) is not inherently synonymous with gay and lesbian or LGBT.1
Many LGBT people do not like or choose to use queer and/or feel it to represent something additional or instead of gay and lesbian or LGBT.
Because queer was originally a slur and not all LGBT people like to use it,2 it's generally best that straight people don't use the word unless talking about people and groups that self-identify as queer.
Queer can be considered a non-assimilationist word. Some LGBT people who are not interested in getting equal rights by proving we're just like straight people prefer the term. (This is like when I rant about how "I'm queer and you can tell and I like it that way.")
Some non-trans people who are gender non-conforming use the term or variations there of (i.e., genderqueer).
Some trans people who are additionally not straight use the term as a shorthand way of encompassing multiple identities.
Some people who would traditionally be called "bisexual" use the term to avoid the reinforcement of a binary gender dichotomy.
Some people prefer queer because it removes the separation between men and women in the LGBT community, breaks down barriers between bisexual and other orientation identities, and can be more inclusive of the T part of the LGBT (which often gets pushed aside, because oppressed groups can be crappy to each other too).
Others like it because it's only one syllable.
Additionally queer is sometimes used to encompass kink, polyamorous and other non-traditional relationship styles in a way that may or may not be related to LGBT individuals depending on the community.3
As usual, I don't speak for all LGBT or queer people, just myself and my experience of our communities. If you have questions or more to add, consider the comments a free for all. I'm particularly interested in other people's sense and connotations for the word as ongoing discussion in the original thread is revealing that they are highly varied.
1 A commenter reminds me that LGBT is just not enough these days, nor is LGBTQ, which you'll also often see. The full acronym these days often includes not just LGBT, but Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual and more.
2 It's also just been brought to my attention that age may be a factor in how one reacts to queer so this PSA might seem more or less peculiar to you depending on your age.
3 Please see comments for additional discussion of this as there is disagreement on this one. It is problematic for many, and I tend to agree, although the arguments for its inclusion in queer also make a lot of sense.
ETA: Please read the comments. This is such an awesome display of diverse identities, respectful discussion about fraught issues and random people making friends I can't quite get over it. I am loving the LJ today.
Queer (as an adjective, we will not be using the noun here) is not inherently synonymous with gay and lesbian or LGBT.1
Many LGBT people do not like or choose to use queer and/or feel it to represent something additional or instead of gay and lesbian or LGBT.
Because queer was originally a slur and not all LGBT people like to use it,2 it's generally best that straight people don't use the word unless talking about people and groups that self-identify as queer.
Queer can be considered a non-assimilationist word. Some LGBT people who are not interested in getting equal rights by proving we're just like straight people prefer the term. (This is like when I rant about how "I'm queer and you can tell and I like it that way.")
Some non-trans people who are gender non-conforming use the term or variations there of (i.e., genderqueer).
Some trans people who are additionally not straight use the term as a shorthand way of encompassing multiple identities.
Some people who would traditionally be called "bisexual" use the term to avoid the reinforcement of a binary gender dichotomy.
Some people prefer queer because it removes the separation between men and women in the LGBT community, breaks down barriers between bisexual and other orientation identities, and can be more inclusive of the T part of the LGBT (which often gets pushed aside, because oppressed groups can be crappy to each other too).
Others like it because it's only one syllable.
Additionally queer is sometimes used to encompass kink, polyamorous and other non-traditional relationship styles in a way that may or may not be related to LGBT individuals depending on the community.3
As usual, I don't speak for all LGBT or queer people, just myself and my experience of our communities. If you have questions or more to add, consider the comments a free for all. I'm particularly interested in other people's sense and connotations for the word as ongoing discussion in the original thread is revealing that they are highly varied.
1 A commenter reminds me that LGBT is just not enough these days, nor is LGBTQ, which you'll also often see. The full acronym these days often includes not just LGBT, but Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual and more.
2 It's also just been brought to my attention that age may be a factor in how one reacts to queer so this PSA might seem more or less peculiar to you depending on your age.
3 Please see comments for additional discussion of this as there is disagreement on this one. It is problematic for many, and I tend to agree, although the arguments for its inclusion in queer also make a lot of sense.
ETA: Please read the comments. This is such an awesome display of diverse identities, respectful discussion about fraught issues and random people making friends I can't quite get over it. I am loving the LJ today.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 04:03 pm (UTC)I ID as queer because:
I am unapologetically non-assimilationist, although I do support full marriage rights.
I do not support the binary view of gender and have had a partner who did not fit neatly in either the M or F box.
IDing as queer in LGBT spaces occasionally saves me from some of the suspicion and ostracism that IDing as bi gets one.
IDing as queer in straighter spaces makes it clear that my alliance is with the LGBT community and I'm not saying I'm bi to titillate guys but otherwise living my life as a straight girl does.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 04:04 pm (UTC)I, btw, pretty much totally agree with you on otherwise straight and poly people using queer but I have seen it more than once, so it is out there.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 04:34 pm (UTC)Being not-straight, myself, but neither fitting into nicely defined gay or straight definitions, I prefer queer. But for me, the impact of "queer" came straight from the Queers Read This manifesto (1990).
I never know what to make of the ever growing alphabet soup acronym. I see the need to formally name and make visible different groups, to explicitly recognize and name allies; but for day to day speech, it defeats me.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-19 12:13 pm (UTC)So that LBGT people know that I/we consider their struggle and ours part of the same fight. I'm bi too, so I "count", but if I weren't I would still want to do this, because there are plenty of poly and kinky people who don't get that gay rights is our problem, and I want to be clear that I'm not one of them.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 04:48 pm (UTC)IDing as queer in straighter spaces makes it clear that my alliance is with the LGBT community and I'm not saying I'm bi to titillate guys but otherwise living my life as a straight girl does.
These ring like a bell for me.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 06:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-19 04:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-20 04:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 04:53 pm (UTC)Though occasionally I still use "bi" rather than "queer" in local LGBT spaces because otherwise some people assume I'm strictly lesbian; apparently butch bi females are unicorns, and I like to makes those people's brains
hurtexpand.no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 05:01 pm (UTC)have your phone numberfriend you? :Dno subject
Date: 2010-06-18 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 05:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-06-18 06:59 pm (UTC)Friending is a good thing.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 08:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 08:18 pm (UTC)Oh, 21st century, you whacky era, you!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 05:23 pm (UTC)IDing as queer in straighter spaces makes it clear that my alliance is with the LGBT community and I'm not saying I'm bi to titillate guys but otherwise living my life as a straight girl does.
Word on both of these things.
the word 'queer' for me is also utterly politicized, because I came out in '89 at Berkeley and promptly joined Queer Nation and started protesting. (Yes, yes, preaching to choir, but one has to start *some*where.) Identifying myself as queer was a very deliberate political act of reclamation and separateness, setting myself apart at the same time I was identifying myself as part of a radical community.
I don't think at the time that I was particularly aware of the older community, or of their reaction to us using that particular term. (University students can tend to be a bit self-involved. :D)
Over time, I've kept the identity, but it's evolved into 1) a convenient shorthand for ALL the things I am (bisexual, Kinsey-4, BDSM-kinky, queer-politics-identified, non-traditionally-oriented in a whole variety of ways), and 2) a more inclusive shorthand term for the gay/kinky/poly communities - and yeah, I do use it to cover poly, though I am not myself poly-identified.
The political-separation connotation seems to have faded and softened.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-19 06:52 pm (UTC)I feel we need different words for these different things.
Date: 2010-06-18 05:57 pm (UTC)Although I'm not squicked by the usage(at least not until I feel that my identity's being somehow co-opted, which simply hasn't happened TTD,)I know some pretty straight people who identify as kinky and/or poly.
And I am aware that homophobia et al is not absent from those communities. No.
So,yeah.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-21 08:07 am (UTC)