Remember that queer history is global. There is not one country in the world that has no queer community and no queer history. No matter what the laws may be queer people have always existed and we have always made history and never let anyone tell you differently.
say queer again
we’re talking about queer people. if you don’t identify with that word, chances are… we weren’t talking about you
IT’S MUCH EASIER TO SAY I’M QUEER THAN TO LIST OUT MY ENTIRE FUCKING IDENTITY
Simple post, simple point, and it illustrates something about anti-queer discourse that I think many exclusionists are missing. Because… even if no complex microlabels existed, even if no one was demi-anything, it’s still less complicated to introduce yourself this way than to declare, for example, “I’m trans and also gay.”
People with multiple labels, even when those labels are included in an acronym, have to do additional emotional labor when the word ‘queer’ is banned.
(I don’t mean just formulating a slightly longer sentence; TERFs and transphobes also specifically hate being reminded that gay trans people exist, and so there’s additional vulnerability attached to that conversation.)
And not wanting to use the word for yourself is fine – but demanding extra work and vulnerability from marginalized people is not.
Overall, queer was approved of by 72.9% of respondents, with 37.2% of respondents specifying queer was their preferred umbrella term.
Queer is the most widely preferred umbrella term, and the 3rd most approved of umbrella term, behind LGBT+ and LGBTQ+.
Groups that do not prefer the use of queer as an umbrella are: straight respondents, exclusionst-identifying respondents, transmedicalists, truscum, sex-negative respondents, and sex work critical respondents.
Queer as an umbrella was preferred above other umbrella terms by all gender identities, and by all orientation groups other than straight.
I’m fascinated to see that exclusionists are BY FAR the most opposed to the term “queer.” And that the only group that comes close to their 17% approval of the term is truscum, at 27%.
Not that I’m surprised they don’t like it. I’m surprised at the immense gap between what they insist, and scream, over and over – that very few people have reclaimed queer, that we should all avoid using it, that older people hate it because it was used against us but younger people hate it because only older people briefly reclaimed it –
and the reality of it being overwhelmingly accepted, preferred, and used, outside of all but a few very insulated groups.
What tickles me the most about it is that the one group where the majority does agree with exclusionists’ view of “gueer” is THE STRAIGHTS!
Like this makes me think so much of the whole “terfs and conservatives agree on a lot of stuff” -thing. (There’s a whole game somewhere, with quotes from terfs and conservatives where you have to guess which one said it, and it is a real fucking hard game…)
Like maybe you aren’t really all that much on the side you think you are, if you actually have a lot in common with the side that wants to hurt the group you claim to support.
We are officially done arguing about the appropriateness and appropriate usage of “queer.”
This matches my experience very closely. I know one (1) adult-over-25-or-so LGBT person who specifically disprefers “queer”, and she actually agrees that it’s the best umbrella term, she just dislikes it personally. I have encountered dozens of angry teens who are aggressively hostile to various other parts of the community and use the “queer is a slur” thing to justify attacking their preferred targets.
since pride month is coming up, that also means we’re getting closer to the month when there’ll be 10000 posts reminding us that all the gay pride merch is just a corporate cash-in, that these corporations don’t care about us, that the world isn’t really any better, that none of the pride merch and ads actually mean anything, that it isn’t really progressive, blah blah blah
let me just say
i know. most people on here know. you are not the sole thinking person in a world of sheep. i promise you that the person you’re making all these points to has heard it 100 times 100 ways from 100 other people. we know, tumblr. we know.
but dammit, one month a year i get rainbow everything, and that’s a breath of fresh air after eleven months of straight nonsense. i LOVE seeing pride everywhere, even if it is just a corporate cash-grab. and it’s not like i can just opt out of this capitalist society, so fuck it, imma buy all the rainbow, pride-themed, gay merch i can get my hands on.
the world is a capitalist hellhole and there is no escape, so we may as well have what fun we can with it while we try and make things better.
happy pride, folks.
And hey, you know what you can do if you want merch that doesn’t just feed the corporate wallet? Go on Etsy, Storenvy, Society6, or just about a bazillion other websites where independent artists sell their products,and support your queer/LGBT+ artists! Directly! Hand them cold hard cash, there’s no better direct action than that, my dudes!
Do both! I really, truly believe that people protesting corporate pride merch, (unless they are protesting art stealing which of course they are right about. Stealing art is 100% not ok), are missing the point by a mile. It used to be that you could only find pride merch in small specialty stores that were owned and or frequented by the queer* community. The fact that enough people are safe enough to be coming out as who they are AND as allies, that multiple large corporations know they can make money off it is HUGE. People used to hold protests and try to get companies shut down for even hinting at being ok with the community. So honestly? Take my money. It has become overall unpopular to voice antigay opinions and I really think some of the bigots are going stealth and infiltrating online communities to try to turn us against one another (ace/aro exclusion; bi/pan exclusion; trans exclusion). Buy pride stuff. When possibly buy it from local artists who need to make a living, but mostly, please display pride merch so that the world can see that despite this evil administration, we are still here, queer, (or your preferred term), and fabulous.
(*queer is my identity. If it isn’t yours insert your own term/alphabet soup here. It isn’t a slur any more than all the other words for us. If you don’t like it, don’t use it, but don’t freakin’ flame me over it.)
I’m settling some discourse from my English class so reblog this post and tag your sexuality and whether or not you wear a t-shirt underneath your hoodies
‘Queer’ was reclaimed as an umbrella term for people identifying as not-heterosexual and/or not-cisgender in the early 1980s, but being queer is more than just being non-straight/non-cis; it’s a political and ideological statement, a label asserting an identity distinct from gay and/or traditional gender identities.
People identifying as queer are typically not cis gays or cis lesbians, but bi, pan, ace, trans, nonbinary, intersex, etc.: we’re the silent/ced letters. We’re the marginalised majority within the LGBTQIA+ community, and
‘queer’ is our rallying cry.
And that’s equally pissing off and terrifying terfs and cis LGs.
There’s absolutely no historical or sociolinguistic reason why ‘queer’ should be a worse slur than ‘gay.’ Remember how we had all those campaigns to make people stop using ‘gay’ as a synonym for ‘bad’?
Yet nobody is suggesting we should abolish ‘gay’ as a label. We accept that even though ‘gay’ sometimes is and historically frequently was used in a derogatory manner, mlm individuals have the right to use that word. We have ad campaigns, twitter hashtags, and viral Facebook posts defending ‘gay’ as an identity label and asking people to stop using it as a slur.
Whereas ‘queer’ is treated exactly opposite: a small but vocal group of people within feminist and LGBTQIA+ circles insists that it’s a slur and demands that others to stop using it as a personal, self-chosen identity label.
Why?
Because “queer is a slur” was invented by terfs specifically to exclude trans, nonbinary, and
intersex people from feminist and non-heterosexual discourse, and was
subsequently adopted by cis gays and cis lesbians to exclude bi/pan and ace
people.
It’s classic divide-and-conquer tactics: when our umbrella term is redefined as a slur and we’re harassed into silence for using it, we no longer have a word for what we are allowing us to organise for social/political/economic support; we are denied the opportunity to influence or shape the spaces we inhabit; we can’t challenge existing community power structures; we’re erased from our own history.
Pro tip: when you alter historical evidence to deny a marginalised group empowerment, you’re one of the bad guys.
“Queer is a slur” is used by terfs and cis gays/lesbians to silence the voices of trans/nonbinary/intersex/bi/pan/ace people in society and even within our own communities, to isolate us and shame us for existing.
“Queer is a slur” is saying “I am offended by people who do not conform to traditional gender or sexual identities because they are not sexually available to me or validate my personal identity.”
“Queer is a slur” is defending heteronormativity.
“Queer is a slur” is frankly embarrassing. It’s an admission of ignorance and prejudice. It’s an insidious discriminatory discourse parroted uncritically in support of a divisive us-vs-them mentality targeting the most vulnerable members of the LGBTQIA+ community for lack of courage to confront the white cis straight men who pose an actual danger to us as individuals and as a community.
Tl;dr:
I’m here, I’m queer, and I’m too old for this shit.
I know I keep reblogging posts like this, but it matters to me. “Queer is a slur” is a TERF dogwhistle, and a lot of the younger generation is falling for it. Please pay attention to history and ask questions about who’s behind social media campaigns that undermine the inclusivity of your community.
Queer is an excellent word, especially when your identity doesn’t fit neatly within one little label. Queer is also an explicit rejection of normative expectations sexuality and gender. It’s radical as fuck.
I’m a qpoc, This is what I’m talking about when white people straight wash POC.
@hijabby may I hop on this post to make a point? You’re quite a bit younger than me, which isn’t a problem or a bad thing, it just means you will have still been in kindergarten or not even born yet when the events I am about to discuss took place and given the nature of queer history, it’s totally possible I learned stuff that’s faded into ephemera for your generation.
QUEER WAS THE ACCEPTABLE, ACADEMIC TERM FOR “LGBTQIA” IN THE EARLY-TO-MID 2000s.
I took classes in Queer Literature. We discussed Queer History. Some of my professors–who were themselves gay, lesbian, and bisexual, mind you–referred to historical figures as queer on the basis that those figures did not exist in societies that had a modern-day understanding of sexuality, and so trying to box them into modern labels is an exercise in futility. I went to marches where we screamed “we’re here, we’re queer, we want our civil rights.”
All of this, by the way, spawns out of the Genderqueer and ACT UP movements of the 1990s; they’re the ones who invented the chant on which the above chant was based, the one you may have heard elsewhere: “we’re here, we’re queer, get over it.” I’m proud of my own part in queer history, but those people, the ones who created the AIDS quilt and the die-ins and the fierce demands for same-sex marriage so they could visit partners dying in the hospital, they’re the real heroes. And they called themselves queer.
And?
Most of them were not white.
I am. The radical activism of my generation looks very different from generations past because, I’m sorry to say, white queer folks sat back and let queer folks of color do the hard part, and then we grabbed the baton and charged over the first big finish line while the sportscasters talked about the stunning race we’d run. I’m not sorry to be an activist or to be working in my own generation, but I’m very deeply sorry that queer activism en masse has widely ignored the nonwhite, noncis people who got us where we are.
“Queer” has more uses than just being a slur that was reclaimed 30+ years ago. Queer is a useful term if, say, you’re 15 and you’re not sure if you’re asexual or a late bloomer, but you don’t want to just say “oh yeah, I’m gay/straight.” Queer is a useful term if, like me, you escaped a fundamentalist church and your whole life has been defined by strict labels, and you just want out. Queer is a useful term if you’re from a country where gender doesn’t fit a Western binary but you want a quick term to describe yourself to Western people.
And do you know what else queer is?
Queer is hated by TERFs because it encompasses trans people.
Because it embraces aroace people.
Because it says “you are here, you are welcome, you belong” to people who say “I know I’m not straight, but I don’t know what I AM.” What you are is queer, and queer is enough. Queer is the place you can sit, rest, and figure it out at your own pace.
TERFs started the narrative of “queer is only a slur, has never been anything else, and was never reclaimed and you should never ever say it ever” in order to gatekeep our community. When you try to deny this term, YOU ARE DOING THE WORK OF TERFS.
Queer is not a slur. Queer is a reclaimed word that is of huge help to people across the community, but most especially to our fellows who aren’t “just” LGB, and to the nonwhite members of our community who do not fit into the gender binary.
Stop. STOP. Stop listening to TERFs who pretend nothing of queer rights existed between 1880 and 2015. Stop being ahistorical and disenfranchising.
We’re here, we’re queer, get the fuck over it.
In addition to all of this, The Bi community in the 80s and 90s used Queer a lot as well because the word Bisexual was less tolerable so to still feel a part of the community they rightfully were a part of, they used Queer. Granted, this was when they were rallying and making sure people saw “Bisexual” on posters and pins but it made gay people uncomfortable and not every Bisexual could handle that.
So when I see things like “Q Slur” what it looks like is the active invalidation of lgbt+ people who find safe haven in a word that is all-encompassing without specification. When I was confused and having panic attacks over the fact no label fit me – Queer saved me.
I think people have a right to choose not to use a reclaimed word for themselves, marginalized people get that choice. But to demand NO one use it often comes with the implication of an unawareness to the history behind it and how our community fought tooth and nail for that word to be reclaimed for us to use – decades ago.
Tossing in a bit of my own knowledge here: queer was also used as a positive self-identifying term as early as the 1930s interchangeably with gay (which was used by all genders).
We’re here, we’re queer, go fuck yourselves.
Pardon me, Gay New York by George Chauncey pushes this date back to 1910. My bad.
‘Queer’ was reclaimed as an umbrella term for people identifying as not-heterosexual and/or not-cisgender in the early 1980s, but being queer is more than just being non-straight/non-cis; it’s a political and ideological statement, a label asserting an identity distinct from gay and/or traditional gender identities.
People identifying as queer are typically not cis gays or cis lesbians, but bi, pan, ace, trans, nonbinary, intersex, etc.: we’re the silent/ced letters. We’re the marginalised majority within the LGBTQIA+ community, and
‘queer’ is our rallying cry.
And that’s equally pissing off and terrifying terfs and cis LGs.
There’s absolutely no historical or sociolinguistic reason why ‘queer’ should be a worse slur than ‘gay.’ Remember how we had all those campaigns to make people stop using ‘gay’ as a synonym for ‘bad’?
Yet nobody is suggesting we should abolish ‘gay’ as a label. We accept that even though ‘gay’ sometimes is and historically frequently was used in a derogatory manner, mlm individuals have the right to use that word. We have ad campaigns, twitter hashtags, and viral Facebook posts defending ‘gay’ as an identity label and asking people to stop using it as a slur.
Whereas ‘queer’ is treated exactly opposite: a small but vocal group of people within feminist and LGBTQIA+ circles insists that it’s a slur and demands that others to stop using it as a personal, self-chosen identity label.
Why?
Because “queer is a slur” was invented by terfs specifically to exclude trans, nonbinary, and
intersex people from feminist and non-heterosexual discourse, and was
subsequently adopted by cis gays and cis lesbians to exclude bi/pan and ace
people.
It’s classic divide-and-conquer tactics: when our umbrella term is redefined as a slur and we’re harassed into silence for using it, we no longer have a word for what we are allowing us to organise for social/political/economic support; we are denied the opportunity to influence or shape the spaces we inhabit; we can’t challenge existing community power structures; we’re erased from our own history.
Pro tip: when you alter historical evidence to deny a marginalised group empowerment, you’re one of the bad guys.
“Queer is a slur” is used by terfs and cis gays/lesbians to silence the voices of trans/nonbinary/intersex/bi/pan/ace people in society and even within our own communities, to isolate us and shame us for existing.
“Queer is a slur” is saying “I am offended by people who do not conform to traditional gender or sexual identities because they are not sexually available to me or validate my personal identity.”
“Queer is a slur” is defending heteronormativity.
“Queer is a slur” is frankly embarrassing. It’s an admission of ignorance and prejudice. It’s an insidious discriminatory discourse parroted uncritically in support of a divisive us-vs-them mentality targeting the most vulnerable members of the LGBTQIA+ community for lack of courage to confront the white cis straight men who pose an actual danger to us as individuals and as a community.
Tl;dr:
I’m here, I’m queer, and I’m too old for this shit.
I know I keep reblogging posts like this, but it matters to me. “Queer is a slur” is a TERF dogwhistle, and a lot of the younger generation is falling for it. Please pay attention to history and ask questions about who’s behind social media campaigns that undermine the inclusivity of your community.
I rarely see anyone in the ~discourse point out that “gay” is a reclaimed slur itself. Somehow everyone is aware that it used to mean “happy, chipper, festive, sociable, flashy, lighthearted, etc,” yet no one stops to realize how utterly offensive it is to use that word as a euphemism for mlm. It requires zero additional context to see the blatant effemiphobia and realize it’s entwined with the STILL PERVASIVE stereotype of mlm as frivolous, loud, carefree dandies (see also: nancy boy, nelly, sissy, light in the loafers, and about a hundred other slurs that are still recognizable as such). It’s considerably worse if you do add some context – before it came to specifically mean “homosexual,” it was also used more broadly to mean “sexual deviant” (mlm, literal prostitutes, figurative sluts).
This isn’t petty hair-splitting about ancient history, either. It was aggressively reclaimed circa the 1950s, and frankly, the fact that it had already lost its venom by the time YOU popped into existence just proves how successfully a term can be reappropriated by the people it’s meant to marginalize. The reclaiming of “queer” has already happened, too – the only people debating its merits at this point are either screaming into the void that is Tumblr, or taking an edgy stance in a classroom discussion at the college where they’re majoring in, you know, QUEER STUDIES. Trying to give the term back to bigots is as misguided and pointless as trying to get a “gay is a slur” movement off the ground. Yes, it is; that’s the point; welcome to the twenty-first century.
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.
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