transkrem:

pearlcourse:

anhamirak:

irlpigmon:

transkrem:

Like, people who identify as Queer know the word is used like a slur. Trust me, we know.

So when we say “queer is a slur” was started by terfs, maybe use some critical thinking and try to understand what we mean. That is, if you actually care about queer people and the damage terfs do, rather that just screaming “queer is a slur!” and ignoring the actual point.

Terfs did not like that queer was reclaimed. End of. This is a fact. Queer was too broad, too accepting, and embraced all the people they wanted gone. And I know y’all exclusionists feel the same but get pissed when we point it out so you deny it, but sit down and listen for a minute.

Queer was the preferred term for poc. For bisexuals. For trans people. For people with multiple identities. It neatly encapsulated everything, and was a friendly community to those who felt thrown under the bus by mainstream LGBT activism. It was a political and social statement, “you treated my like I was different and weird, and guess what? I am and that’s something to be proud of.”

So the response? “You can’t use that word. Its bad. Its a slur.”

And at the time, a lot of people rolled their eyes. Everyone knew why they didn’t like the word and brushed that off. It was fine.

So they started more subtly. “Just so you know this word is very harmful and is a slur so be careful how you use it :))) in case you didn’t know :)))) its a slur :))) friendly reminder :))) for the sake of other people of course :))))” type shit on every post involving the word, including and especially posts simply mentioning self identification.

Always worded in friendly, concerned ways, like the derailment was meant to be nice and considerate, and not about normalizing their rhetoric.

And what happened because of that was a younger generation of community kids growing up with these statements being thrown at them and absorbed on every. Single. Post. That. Mentionioned. Queer.

The result? That same generation of kids cutting it all short, removing the meant-to-be-palatable niceness, to just say “queer is a slur.”

Exactly how it was originally intended. “Queer is a slur.” People drop on posts where young queer people talk about it being a self identifier that actually fits them. “Its a slur,” they comment, with nothing else, on posts they clearly didn’t read past that word, written by people twice their age who had reclaimed it before they were even born.

Its nasty. Its disgusting. It’s plain old bigotry, whether the people saying know it or not. It is a terf tactic, plain and simple.

And no one wants to deny that it is indeed used as a slur (right along with all the rest of our identities.) No one wants to be insensitive and force it on people who haven’t reclaimed it.

But invading queer people’s posts to spit “queer is a slur” is flat out queerphobic. You do the dirty work of terfs, of cis straight oppressors, by saying in one simple sentence: “its a dirty word, there is no pride in it, you haven’t/can’t reclaim(ed) it.”

And regardless of your actual intentions, when you do this, that is EXACTLY what you are communicating and doing.

“Queer is a slur” is a terf movement. Stop fucking supporting terfs just because you want to pretend like it isn’t.

Calling yourself queer is fine but like.. it’s not a good umbrella term bc it Is a slur and if you can reclaim it you can but lots of gay people are uncomfortable w it (including me, a trans woman) n u gotta respect that

“Gay” is a slur too. In fact I have never once in my life heard queer used as an insult, but I lost track of how many times I’ve heard gay used to way. And yet here you are using it as an umbrella term. In fact it’s used as an umbrella term constantly. And nobody says a word about it.

What’s the difference?

Rhetorical question. The difference is that there wasn’t a movement by terfs and similar exclusionists to make sure nobody could comfortably self-identify as gay. There was for queer, and sadly it worked on a lot of people.

I’m going to keep using it as an umbrella term. Because that’s what it is. Because it is actually the best umbrella term we’ve ever had. It sucks that so many people have been misled to the point where they’re uncomfortable hearing/reading the word queer. I won’t use it to refer to individuals unless they’ve indicated that they’re okay with that, because each person gets to choose their own labels. But for the community? It’s the most inclusive word I’ve got and I’m not letting exclusionists take it away. I’m going to keep fighting for the queer community, because it’s the only community that undeniably includes all of us.

The difference between Queer as a slur and Gay as a slur is the history behind the words. “Queer” means “weird”, whereas “gay” means “happy” in historical terms. Though both have been used as slurs, and both have been reclaimed, the reason why some people are uncomfortable with “Queer” as a catch-all term for the LGBT community is that history.

So when you refer to the LGBT community as “queer”, you’re saying that all LGBT people are “weird”. That’s why people, including me, are uncomfortable with it being a catch-all term for the community. For personal use, it’s fine, but for widespread, it’s got its problems that should be taken into consideration.

That’s actually not true. “Gay” in origin (as a label to call other people) meant “sexually perverse/deviant,” and was most prominently used on sex workers, as well as perceived gay and gnc(trans) people in the early 20th century. It was reclaimed in the exact same fashion as queer by gay men, as a purposeful distancing from the term “homosexual.”

There is actually a surviving letter written by a queer identifying person around that time discussing the shift of terms over to gay, and that not being something they liked because of the horrible connotations and it not being as good a term as queer (if I’m remembering correctly.)

The reclaiming process redefined these terms to an extent for us (though the “weirdness” was embraced as something to be proud of in the 90s, that was an important part.) but “gay” lost its negative connotations over time (though it was still hurled as a slur,) but queer was hung onto because gatekeeping bastards hated the fucking word and its inclusiveness and never let anyone forget it.

I feel just as bad when people call the community “the gay community” and yet an overwhelming amount do it. But I don’t rag on gay people who do it really because I know they use the terms comfortable to them. I also don’t hold it against people who use other terms that are more offensive but personally reclaimed, because I know they include only those who identify under that term.

When “queer community” or “queer people” is used, a) its no more offensive than any other term being blanketed, and b) it literally only includes queer people. Of you’re not queer identifying….it doesn’t include you.