āQueerā 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; itās 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.: weāre the silent/ced letters. Weāre the marginalised majority within the LGBTQIA+ community, andāqueerā is our rallying cry.
And thatās equally pissing off and terrifying terfs and cis LGs.
Thereās absolutely no historical or sociolinguistic reason why āqueerā should be a worse slur than āgay.ā Remember how we had all those campaigns to make people stop using āgayā as a synonym for ābadā?
Yet nobody is suggesting we should abolish āgayā as a label. We accept that even though āgayā 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 āgayā as an identity label and asking people to stop using it as a slur.
Whereas āqueerā is treated exactly opposite: a small but vocal group of people within feminist and LGBTQIA+ circles insists that itās a slur and demands that others to stop using it as a personal, self-chosen identity label.
Because āqueer is a slurā 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.
Itās classic divide-and-conquer tactics: when our umbrella term is redefined as a slur and weāre 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 canāt challenge existing community power structures; weāre erased from our own history.
Iām not kidding. Cis LGs have literally taken historical evidence of queer peopleās involvement in the LGBT rights struggle and photoshopped it to erase us:
Pro tip: when you alter historical evidence to deny a marginalised group empowerment, youāre one of the bad guys.
āQueer is a slurā 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.
āQueer is a slurā is saying āI 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.ā
āQueer is a slurā is defending heteronormativity.
āQueer is a slurā is frankly embarrassing. Itās an admission of ignorance and prejudice. Itās 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.
Iām here, Iām queer, and Iām too old for this shit.
