The Ethics of Using 'Queer' as an Umbrella Term - Is it a slur? Is it REALLY okay to use?

[Melkor]

So I'm on the fence about this topic.

While I do think some people within the LGBT+ community refer to themselves as queer, a lot of other people find the term off-limits. I'm one of the latter; I personally cannot use the term to refer to myself and I consider it a slur.

My sister on the other hand thinks otherwise. She theorizes that since gay used to be a slur and was reclaimed, queer can be reclaimed ad well. However, as far as I know, it took hundreds of years for gay to become a normalized term.

What do you guys think?

 

[Sailor_Jupiter]

Nothing is off limits when shitposting. But I'd never use it IRL to call someone that, it might hurt their feelings. Or to actually call someone that online, like "You queer!" Tbh I've heard it so many times online- and with just the meaning of "unusual" in Victorian literature- that it doesn't really read as a slur to me, like n****r or something. I think it depends on the person.

 

[AnOminous]

I'm not sure about the "ethics" of it, but in any discussion where the term appears, you can usually completely derail the discussion by starting an argument about whether it's offensive or not. Just accuse whoever said it of something, poof, any hope of discussion is out the window.

That's why I generally wouldn't use it unless that was actually my intention, or if acting in good faith, use it to refer to someone unless I was damn sure they were okay with it.

There are occasions it's unavoidable, like if you're talking about some academic field literally called Queer Theory.

 

[Sperglord Dante]

I'd never use the word "queer" myself, but that's because I hate what it stands for. If you use the word "queer" you validate stupid shit like non-binary, genderfluid, aro, ace, demisex, autigender and even furries.

Use LGBT.

 

[Beaniebon]

it might be a regional thing because where I grew up people used it with such venom I really hate hearing it... I really don't know how any lgbt person can stand it. makes me uncomfortable. just use lgbt.

and usually it's dumb shit like nonbinary people using the term queer when the term (at least around here) was only really targeted at gay/bi people so it's not even their slur to reclaim (in their words).

and I don't think gay was ever even a slur, was it? anyway if it was it was so long ago that it means nothing anymore (similar to bitch or bastard).

 

[Jackal]

Personally, I consider it a slur. Before reclaiming the term started to get popular, I'd only ever heard it in a derogatory context, especially considering I was born and partially raised in the deep south.

However, I understand people who want to reclaim it. I think it's perfectly fine for an individual to claim the term for themselves. What's not okay is when they start calling other people queer without checking to see if said other people are okay with it, or when they refer to the LGBT+ community as the "queer community".

I am not queer. I don't want to be called queer. If you wanna call yourself queer, be my guest. Personally I rather enjoy calling myself a fag, but you don't see me labeling all gay people fags, now do you?

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

I've never heard anyone whose opinions I respect use that term. It has always been genderspecials and snowflakes on Tumblr and Youtube.

Ergo I don't care.

 

[Hui]

What is wrong with slurs in general? They are just words. I mean I call straight people faggots when they kiss their girlfriends and such. But I have never said queer ever though. Who the fuck still says queer I haven't heard that word since 2003. Or LGBTBBQ when describing a person? Nigger you are gay for caring about this or maybe I have just grown thick skinned because I am from the South.

 

[Joan Nyan]

I'm not a queer I'm a faggot. Anyone who calls themselves a queer is retarded.

 

[feedtheoctopus]

It was originally a way for gay people to appropriate a slur. In a sense they robbed the word of its power, which was the point. It doesn't mean as much today as it did back in the 60's. Though more recently it's turned into something people call themselves to signify that they're like, totally ABOVE labels, shitlord. Though ironically defining yourself as queer because you think defining yourself as anything is stupid is still defining yourself.

One can acknowledge the many shades of gray that exist within your typical human being without making a totem of them, I think. Your gender/sexual identity is not a religious icon. It is not some metaphysical force beyond the comprehension of anybody. It is a state of being among many states of being you will encounter in your existence on this Earth. Everybody is going to shift in ways they can't predict at some point in their lives. That some people's sense of self shifts a little less than somebody else's doesn't mean much.

People can call themselves what they want. I don't give a fuck. People can act how they want also. I'm not interested in making sure everybody fits my mold of what I think they should be because I know they won't be anyway and I'm not an asshole to boot (well, not in that way anyway). But if you're expecting me to understand the obsession tumblrites have with that word I'm going to have to say "no".

 

[AnOminous]

Queer is also used by people who aren't gay or even bisexual but want to seem weird somehow so they just define everything that isn't completely normal as queer.

 

[Pickle Inspector]

I'd never use the word "queer" myself, but that's because I hate what it stands for. If you use the word "queer" you validate stupid shit like non-binary, genderfluid, aro, ace, demisex, autigender and even furries.

Use LGBT.

I agree, I now think of this channel when I hear the word queer:

 

[StraightShooter]

So I'm on the fence about this topic.

While I do think some people within the LGBT+ community refer to themselves as queer, a lot of other people find the term off-limits. I'm one of the latter; I personally cannot use the term to refer to myself and I consider it a slur.

My sister on the other hand thinks otherwise. She theorizes that since gay used to be a slur and was reclaimed, queer can be reclaimed ad well. However, as far as I know, it took hundreds of years for gay to become a normalized term.

What do you guys think?

Don't care because the "LGBT community" is just an identity politics cult that tries to turn a person's plumbing preference into an ideology; the majority of homosexual people don't even identify with the "LGBT" community.

That and the fact that the most prominent "LGBT" communities, such as the "LGBT" reddit make administrators of fellows like Laurelai who is an actual pedophile and rapist says all you need to know about the entire freak show; the LGBT community is basically to "homosexuality" what the KKK is to "white people", or the Westboro Baptist Church is to "Christians".

That and pretty much every person I've met IRL who identified with the "LGBT community" was either a mentally ill freak or legitimate sociopath, no lie - while I've met "gay people" who didn't identify with the "LGBT community" who were pretty functional and normal people. Chris Chan should be the LGBT community's official spokesperson because he pretty much represents the type of folks who identify with that degenerate "community".

 

[Joan Nyan]

That and the fact that the most prominent "LGBT" communities, such as the "LGBT" reddit make administrators of fellows like Laurelai who is an actual pedophile and rapist says all you need to know about the entire freak show; the LGBT community is basically to "homosexuality" what the KKK is to "white people", or the Westboro Baptist Church is to "Christians".

This is an insult to the KKK and the WBC.

 

[ICametoLurk]

all of you are fucking queers

 

[BILLY MAYS]

Too weak to be an insult, too weird to use in daily life IMO. If I want a slur I might as well use faggot.
Related:

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

Queer doesn't just refer to LGBT individuals, but anyone who isn't considered "normal". There's a whole academic field on it. I know Cis people who are in heterosexual relationships who consider themselves "queer" like a bitch woman or effeminate man.

 

[AnOminous]

Queer doesn't just refer to LGBT individuals, but anyone who isn't considered "normal". There's a whole academic field on it. I know Cis people who are in heterosexual relationships who consider themselves "queer" like a bitch woman or effeminate man.

People who aren't even gay, bisexual, or trans, and insist on calling themselves queer, are complete faggots.

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

People who aren't even gay, bisexual, or trans, and insist on calling themselves queer, are complete faggots.

Etymology of the word is "odd" or "not normal", though that being said "faggot" meant a bundle of sticks. The English language is weird sometimes

 

[GS 281]

So are kiwis a bunch of queers or a bunch of faggots?