#queer reclamation

[sheepskinnedgoat]

Where's all the heretical Queer christians at? Where's all the weirdo dyke Mary Magdalene fans located? Where's all the freaky faggy Jesus-loving non-xtians? Where's all the terribly wonderfully tranny God-doubters hiding? It's June, my dashboard isn't covered in enough gay crosses and colorful spear wounds.

[frostops]

The entire point of “Not gay as in happy, queer as in fuck you!” was that, at the time, gay was seen as the more respectful term. There were people who would never directly engage in homophobic violence, and the word gay was the word they were most likely to use. Queer was the word people doing the violence would use, and they weren't the violent ones. And they would then wash their hands of the violence. The police brutality, the homelessness, the AIDS epidemic, it wasn't THEIR fault. And that's if they even acknowledged any of it in the first place.

“Not gay as in happy” was a rejection of this. Their hands weren’t clean. “Queer as in fuck you” was forcing them to look at the ugly parts. It was not letting the people unaffected by this violence pretend it therefore had nothing to do with them. And it wasn’t the only term being used this way. “Dykes and Fags Bash Back” was the same idea. Turn the violence back against those who used it and forced those who distance themselves form that violence to confront it.

Last month Blue’s Clues had a pride episode that used the word queer. Its a children’s show, so it was never going to confront any harsh truths. But, it was still decided that queer was a family friendly word. Brands use the word while marketing in Pride month. It no longer represents a harsh reality that people want to ignore.

The reclamation of queer was originally meant to be a stance against assimilation, but the word itself has become so thoroughly assimilated that it cant really represent that anymore

Now people can claim they respect queer people and then go eat at Chic-Fil-A, and not think about any of it. Not think about the conversion therapy, or the money being funneled to anti trans movements. They aren’t doing it directly, so its not THEIR fault. Plenty of LGBT people use the same reasoning, actually.

I’ve seen people argue that at least the word represents something positive now, but none of this has stopped queer’s use as a violent pejorative either. Some often bring up how gay is used pejoratively as well, but they are not used the same.

When some high school kid calls something they don’t like gay, they aren’t implying the inanimate object is actually homosexual and then subject it to violence. They’re calling it lame. When they say to other kids “Don’t be gay,” it usually means don’t be a buzzkill. Its often assumed the person being called gay is straight. Its based in homophobia, in the idea that being gay is worse, but no violence comes with it.

But when they call the kid with a lisp a queer, its because they believe he is a queer. And then either they, or other kids, get violent with the “queers.”

People uncomfortable with queer but fine with gay aren’t too young to remember gay being used as an insult. The reality was that being called gay usually meant people thought you weren’t, which meant you were safe. Being called queer meant you weren’t.

And while that could be the perfect circumstance for queer to have the same value it once did, most of society no longer associates with this violence with the word queer. They associate the word with LGBT people being happy, in respectable family friendly ways.

“Not gay as in happy, but queer as in fuck you” doesn’t work any more when queer means happy. Queer has become the exact respectability it was supposed to fight against.

[femfreq]

This week on FFR, we're talking about the sci-fi classic The Matrix! We explore how the film can be read as an explicitly queer/trans text, reveal which of us would take the blue pill, and Carolyn does her best Agent Smith impression. Listen now with the link in our bio!

--------

#femfreq #podcast #popculturepodcast #feministfrequency #feminist #feministcritque #Movies #Matrix #TheMatrix #KeanuReeves #CarrieAnneMoss #TheWachowskis #Wachowskis

[uncanny-tranny]

On Queer Reclamation:

I know this is ~old discourse~, but I still see it around, and I think it's important to be transparent with my views, so here we are.

I am completely okay with the word "queer" being reclaimed by LGBT individuals. I have heard arguments that people have trauma around this word, and that is completely valid. But some people have trauma around words like "gay," and that should be recognized as a valid reason to find comfort in the word "queer."

Queer people should have the autonomy to choose which labels best describe them, and if that means taking a slur from LGBTphobes and reclaiming it, then I am not against it. We all should recognize the nuances of our community, including stances on the word queer. And we should respect those nuances.

Queer people, you aren't bad for reclaiming the word. You are important to the community. LGBT people who aren't comfortable with the word queer, you are completely okay to be uncomfortable. That isn't a bad thing. But if we can respect other's boundaries, we are able to foster a community based around mutual aid and reverence for all.

[hedonisticramblings]

[wlwarchive]

'Queer' can be a rough word, but it is also a sly and ironic weapon we can steal from the homophobe's hand and use against him

Lesbians Talk:Queer Notions. Cherry Smyth

[andromaex]

TMTC

religion said I’m unholy so I built a cathedral out of spite and gay love

Okay LISTEN… every time I hear this song I’m reminded that queer people have basically been living in the tension between holiness and heresy for CENTURIES. Like the audacity — the audacity — of systems that say “love is sin,” while simultaneously running on fear, shame, and “do what we say or we’ll destroy you.”

This song is literally the embodiment of:

“If you won’t let me be sacred in your church, I’ll become sacred in someone else’s arms.”

The contrast is so brutal it’s almost funny. Religion is over here acting like it has the monopoly on morality, yet it’s the one turning love into a battlefield. Meanwhile the lover in the song? Soft sunlight. Actual redemption arc. Tender human connection that doesn’t require tithing or emotional self-flagellation.

It’s the irony for me. The tragic, delicious, heartbreaking irony.

Because the whole song is basically screaming:

“You called me wicked, so I found holiness somewhere you can’t touch.”

The idea that institutions will condemn you for loving someone, then turn around and justify violence in the name of “truth.” Like babes… who exactly is committing the sin here?? Who’s hurting who??

There’s something so raw in the way the song pits true intimacy against manufactured righteousness. One side says: “You’re sick.” The other says: “You’re human.”

And the irony is sharper than any moralizing knife. Because:

“It was never my love that was dangerous — it was your fear.”

Oh and the religious imagery? The symbolism? The spoiled fruit of dogma rotting behind stained-glass windows while actual compassion suffocates outside? Yes. Inject it into my veins.

This song is basically queer reclamation spelled in thunder:

“If your faith turns love into a crime, then your god is too small for my heart.”

The way it reframes worship — turning something oppressive into something gentle, consensual, and intimate — is honestly revolutionary. It says everything organized religion pretends to say about love while simultaneously contradicting it:

“You demand sacrifice; I offer connection.” “You preach purity; I practice truth.” “You promise heaven; I create it.”

And don’t even get me STARTED on how the song exposes the absurdity of those who claim moral superiority while enforcing cruelty. Like, you really have people saying “love is wrong” while committing violence so casually it might as well be a sacrament.

It makes me want to stand on a cliff somewhere dramatic and scream:

“IF YOUR GOD NEEDS ME TO HATE MYSELF, HE CAN FIND ANOTHER WORSHIPPER.”

There’s something wildly powerful about reclaiming all that language — the rituals, the devotion, the reverence — and saying, “Actually? My love is the holy thing here.” The lover becomes the sanctuary. The relationship becomes the altar. The healing becomes the hymn.

“I’d rather worship at the feet of someone who loves me than kneel before someone who fears me.”

This song is a rebellion disguised as a prayer. A sermon in self-acceptance. A gay love letter written in cathedral-light and defiance.

Anyway I’m emotional again and no one talk to me.

[pornosophical]

if anyone ever tells you that they “lived through Queer reclamation” and they’re not 60+ years old

then they are lying and just as ignorant of queer history as the people they’re challenging

come talk to me about retaking “molly” or polari or some shit but queer has been queer for over a hundred years easily if not a couple centuries

reclamation started before most of us were even BORN 

but go off like you can perform academic authority I guess