LGBTQ+ vs Queer

When I was in school the other kids would call dodgeball Smear the Queer and then usually I got pelted with balls (and not in the good way). I am just now starting to get comfortable with the term.

 

I think it really depends on the person. I have some friends that are ok with identifying as queer and some that are more comfortable identofying as LGBT. I use both terms, but most of the time I use LGBT as I don't want to accidentally offend others.

 

I've got to be honest I don't like the word 'queer'.

Firstly, it's too imprecise and vague. But also even today it still has overtones of its original meaning of 'strange', 'odd' and 'unusual'.

I get why it's become a badge of pride, but I'm sick and tired of people like me being 'othered' by mainstream society. I don't want to join some queer club that stands outside society, a ghetto in other words. I'm a transgender woman who is actually really normal who wants mainstream society to accept me!

And one day it will.

Beth

 

I personally dislike the word “queer” and refrain from saying it completely. There is nothing strange or unusual about same-sex attraction. Even though it’s been “reclaimed”, one can’t deny the word’s roots. Using this word as an LGBT person does nothing to empower yourself or other LGBT people.

Additionally, I feel that the normalisation of this word has caused some straight individuals to become too comfortable saying it all over again… only now, it’s somehow acceptable because leftists are also doing it. People throw the word “queer” around as if it’s the same as saying the word “blonde” or “brunette” but the truth is, it’s not.

 

I use both terms and see them as umbrella terms for the non-straight/Cis community.

I honestly like queer a lot more. It's a bit assumptive, but I'll typically use it around my generation/region because I know other people have different experiences with the word. LGBT just doesn't roll of the tongue well and there seems to be a little disagreement between how many letters to add

 

Queer is more of an umbrella term that covers the whole LGBT+ community. On a personal level, I'm not fond of queer and I don't like to be called it, but there a plenty of people who are totally at ease with it. I make no judgement in that regard.

 

I've seen these terms as with mostly separate uses, slurs aside.

"Queer" has this general connotation of a gray area, or something that just doesn't neatly fit into a box. When I say I'm queer, I mean that there's a lot of my hardwiring that really doesn't fit into molds! I have the labels I have as a "For the most part" kind of deal. But saying that begs quite a few questions, and those questions beg more questions. So, "I'm queer" gets the job done and we can continue the conversation we initially meant to have.

"LGBTQ+" or even "LGBT" refers to the community at large. "Queer" can sometimes mean this too, but when we get into the finer details, it becomes separate from distinctly gay, bi, pan, etc. LGBT is the big family, but "Queer" is just a good amount of the people who make up said family.

It's like the whole Square vs Rectangle thing. All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. At least, that's how I view it.

 

I don’t like the word queer. I don’t like the way it sounds and I don’t like that it means strange or odd. I don’t consider myself queer. I like LGBT+ a lot better and I don’t have a problem calling myself a lesbian.

 

I honestly dont care which people use with me, im fine with either

 

Ayo! Hi fellow lesbian! ( i use gay and lesbian interchangeably) ️‍️‍️‍

 

Not gonna lie. I use queer more frequently when I'm talking to lgbt people because it's quicker to say. But I use them as interchangeable. I do try to avoid it if I know someone's more uncomfortable and I don't use it around homophobic people.

And then, yeah, I use gay and lesbian interchangeably to describe myself.

 

I just use gay. I even put it in my username

 

This is how I use queer for my gender, I understand the negative connotations of it but I think it fits where I’m at in relation to societal norms, and my general confusion at times. I’d love to move past it when I know myself better, for now I say it, only about myself unless asked to use it, with pride

 

The trick is talking about other people in the lgbt community. Like, I don't just date gay women. And I don't want to have to specify that I date lesbian, bisexual, and pansexual women. It's easier to just say I date queer women (or lgbt women). A huge part of it too, though, is that the lgbt women I know refer to other lgbt women as queers. Where I'm located and the age group I'm in, that's the cultural norm.

 

Im Bisexual but here lately describing myself as queer lately my mom who is gay too hates it which I get because back in her day it was a nasty word.

 

Queer is a difficult word for a lot of people, for a lot of reasons.

The definition and history of its usage, foremost, is not something that should be forgotten, and a number of you echo that sentiment. I will not disagree with you in sentiment, only in spirit, though I won't talk you out of your conviction. Others calling us "queer" really never feels acceptable to me, either, and it's not one I use away from other LGBTQIA+ people.

In that way, it's a bit like using the n-word, though not quite as ferocious. Neither were ever really nice words, but we can call each other that because we know the struggles, we know the pain, we know the history, and - for however we mean it - we don't mean malice in it.

I will only offer that language is a living thing. It's living because it's made up of consensus rather than history, and ultimately is just made up. Language, like gender or orientation, is a concept we made up based on a small set of behaviors or traits, and since we made it up, we can change it. It's not that it doesn't mean anything anymore. It just means it's different now.

Also, our acronym is cumbersome, forbiddingly so. Perhaps we can do better, perhaps we're shackled to it, but either way, it is certainly at this time the most respectful and appropriate of the two in question, I think we all can agree on that.