The word "queer"

I prefer it. LGBT isn't very inclusive, and LGBTQQAIP is little too long, and still doesn't include everyone, so queer it is.

 

So why don't we come up with a word that doesn't have a hateful background as an umbrella term for the lgbt community.

---------- Post added 16th Jan 2013 at 06:04 PM ----------

sooner or later lgbtqqiap is going to be longer than the alphabet and we will be forced to sit down and accept that fact that everyone is a little different and that all of this is a little pointless.

 

Originally. I used the word "queer" to come out to my mother, because I was so ashamed to call myself gay, but now I find it highly offensive, and just not a nice word to be honest

 

how is "queer" a more inclusive word when a sizable chunk of the people you intend for it to describe flatly refuse to be referred to as such? I am NOT queer and will never consider myself to be part of any community that labels itself that way.

 

Because the LGBTQ community doesn't speak with one single voice so no one can say "aha, from now on we go by blah, blah"

What usually happens is that one person of influence in the community starts using a word that they personally like, and then other people and groups start using it as well only if they like it.

Right now we have things like Queer Theory which is widely used by plenty of activists and, while not perfect, its an useful tool for many. One of the many reasons why queer won't be on its way out any time soon.

But having that in mind, its also not something that is being imposed on anyone. Like I said, its not like we have a central gay president that sends us memos on what to call ourselves this month.

 

:smilewave

Honestly l'm glad l'm not the only jackassy person saying this kind of thing. Really.

How inclusive does LGBT need to be, anyway? When it's bordering on encompassing most of the population there's no need to have a "group" of LGBT people discussing LGBT issues.

perhaps a separate group should be formed for folks who absolutely cannot bear being an ordinary member of society or identifying as anything remotely "normal".

FWACBBAOMOSOIAARN

 

The alphabet soup needs to die in a fire no matter how much people hate the word queer. It got tiresome the second it became LGBT. Sorry, folks...

Besides, the LGBTQWTFBBQ community doesn't practice real inclusivity anyway.

 

I'm from Ontario (Canada's capital to be exact) and quite possibly the most derogatory comment I've ever heard from someone else involved the word queer. The man who said it, and a few of my coworkers who agreed with him don't know I'm (or might be?) gay, so it wasn't directed towards me. Regardless, I didn't feel comfortable with the word beforehand, and definitely don't feel comfortable about it afterwards.
That was a long 8-hour shift.

 

I know it's not usually meant badly, especially within the LGBT community, but I have heard it as an insult, too. On a side note, I sometimes want to use the word for what it started out as meaning, but I can't because of what it has changed into - people would laugh almost as much as if someone tried to say 'gay' meaning 'happy' instead of 'homosexual'. That's another thing: 'gay' started out with a positive meaning, whereas 'queer' was more negative.

 

I like it because it describes more aspects than "I like men and only men."

 

I'd never refer to myself as queer, and don't want people to refer to me as queer, but I don't care if others use it.

 

I didn't like it, but now I'm starting to for some reason. Still, since it means odd, or different, it doesn't really describe us well. We are just the same as anyone else.

 

That's the whole purpose of queer theory. Its moving away from labels. That's why I like it despite the fact that when I was younger queer bothered me more than faggot or tranny.

The point was to attempt to reclaim the word, but as the black community did with the N word. (I feel like a hypocrite directly referencing faggot and tranny but not the N word...)

 

I've never really liked the word so I was surprised when I came here and heard people using it. Like all words though it depends on the context it's used and how it is said.

If a straight person ever referred to me as queer though, I doubt I'd be happy about it.

 

Does whether the word is used as a noun or verb matter to anyone else? "A queer" seems derogatory, whereas "she's queer" strikes me as more descriptive, and without negative connotation. I actually felt the same way about the word "lesbian" at first... I didn't (and still don't, really) like it when it's used as a noun, but I'm okay with it as a verb.

I also don't have much personal experience with the word "queer" being used as an insult, though, so that certainly impacts my thinking on the matter.

 

*adjective (not verb)

oops

 

to me, the word has a slight negative connotation to it but, i dont care if its used to describe me or not.

 

I personally can't stand the word. I may be gay, but I am not weird or different. In fact I'm not even normal. Nobody's normal. I'm just me. Yeah sure, I might do some outrageous things every now and then, er all of the time, but that's just me. That's just how I am. I'm not queer. I'm Micah.

 

In my experience, it has always been used in a negative light. In grade school, one of our playground games was called "Spear the Queer." Granted, none of us knew what "queer" meant, but it did mean you were the kid that got decked by 20 balls.

Even now, to me the word "queer" is still synonymous with "strange." I would just prefer to tell someone that I'm gay.