What connotations does queer have?

If I heard someone describe themselves as queer I'd assume they were pansexual

 

I personally don't like the word "queer". I realize that people use it for re-appropriation (changing derogatory words to mean something positive). But it still has a derogatory meaning or context from my point of view. If an LGBT+ person uses it to describe themselves, I don't have a problem with that - more power to them if that is what they want. But I don't like it when news articles and other media use the word "queer" to describe the LGBT+ community.

The reason why I feel this way is because the word "queer" from the dictionary meaning is defined as "weird, unusual, unexpected, odd, deviant, abnormal, or atypical". The word "queer" originally has a derogatory meaning. So using it towards yourself seems to work against the community. I prefer not to be called "queer".

 

Yup

 

If someone calls themselves queer I think they are young, afab, progressive, bisexual. They feel confined by a specific label, probably because they identify with more than one. They're most likely young because I see nothing in 'queer' but shock value. It is a derogatory word that has no credibility to it; how can people use it in any way other than as an insult or with irony?

 

I just assume somewhere on the bi/pan spectrum.

 

I like queer myself. It's the only all-encompassing, non-acronym term out there in wide use.

Is it derogatory? Maybe a little, but it's been in use within the community for as long as there's been a community. Does it come with shock value? I guess it could...personally I don't see it that way, at least not when LGBT individuals use it.

 

If someone calls themselves queer I'd just think they're not straight/cis honestly, I don't tend to make assumptions further than that. Then again English isn't my first language so it's not like I hear that word being used around here

 

Unless it's a term that's used as a general label for everyone who isn't straight and isn't cis, it seems unnecessary to me.

Like, if a man only likes men, he can be gay. Why does he call himself queer? I might just be ignorant though. The only people I know who use that label are the super far-left types.

 

To me, it's the opposite of the whole "we're just like you - nonthreatening and normal" types. It's "we're different and not going anywhere". I understand, ahem, some demographics within LGBT are almost indistinguishable from their straight, cisgender counterparts, and seem to care more what they think than anything else.

Some call themselves gay/trans/etc AND queer.

 

We don't have the word "queer" in my native language, so I don't know for sure... but when I hear it, I think of either bisexual or pansexual... but if I'll hear someone calling themselves queer, I woudn't automatically label them as bisexual or pansexual, because I know this word might have a different meaning to them. I would just know that they are not straight or cis.

 

This is what I go by when someone says they are queer

 

Same. I generally don't like making assumptions. There are a lot of reasons why people might use the word queer, they don't have to be bi/pan to use it. I personally use bi and queer interchangeably. And some people simply use it because their labels are complicated, so it is easier to say that they're queer instead of, for example, aromantic pansexual genderfluid.

 

I don't know if it just me, but I think queer sounds derogatory, so I avoid using it.

 

That's how I view it too. I don't much thought into it beyond that, unless they're comfortable with approaching me about it more--but I won't pry them. I use the label for me because of how I drift here and there with how I self identify; and how it's way less complicated to say I'm queer than I'm a non-binary leaning pansexual (possibly demiromantic) trans man. There's a lot of labels out there that not only making pinpointing yourself difficult, but putting up with a group of certain edgelords just make it a bigger headache.

However, I won't push it onto people who aren't comfortable with it. I know a lot of people who find it degrading, and that's valid. For me, it ties into people within the community who have reclaimed the word "faggot". I know many gay people who cringe at hearing it, and some who have proudly taken it back--my partner being one of them. It really just depends on the person.

 

Yea I agree I mean honestly we're all humans even though there are some people that I question um are you even human? Personally I don't care much for it as long as it isn't hurting anyone

 

Queer a few decades ago was a synonym for gay/homosexual. It's been reclaimed since then, but I prefer to identify as gay ride:

 

I tend to view queer as being something outside of homo/heterosexual or cis/trans.

 

I always viewed as a umbrella term used for everyone that isn't heterosexual. I never thought of it as a negative term, however I am aware of it's history as being a slur. I find myself using it more when refer to myself because I don't have a specific label I am comfortable with.

 

There are still people in my life that use words like queer and fag in the most negative sense of the words. Its really sad.