Sort of equivalent. “Queer” used to be used as a sharp slur by many homophobes, but it’s been actively reclaimed by the community and used as a badge of honor instead to remove its power as a slur. Some older members may still take offense to it just because of the historical context that they lived through, but I imagine anyone of your age or younger has zero problem with the word and probably use it themselves.

In definition, “queer” is meant to describe someone deviating from the norm. As your therapist described, in this community its often used as a catch-all for people who don’t fit cleanly into the lesbian/gay/trans labeled bins. Its also frequently used when someone has more than one gender/sexuality identifications. But you’re welcome to use it with only just one.

Technically, the acronym “LGBTQ+” includes Queer in itself, as the Q. But we all know that acronym sucks to use in conversation a lot lol.

I think we should reclaim queer as a good catch all for everyone, though I personally like 🌈 Rainbow Mafia 🌈. I also like what CyberEgg pointed out with the term ‘punk’ starting off as a slur only to be owned by the group.

I’m trans and work in Healthcare, and I often just queer as a catch all phrase instead of using the whole acronym. It’s easier to say and most queer folk are not offended by it.

That being said, I try to use the specific group names when I am personally talking to patients, as I think it’s empowering to hear them in a way that doesn’t assign normative value.

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The way I use it is that Queer is an opt in label that in some way is embracing the idea of rejecting societal cishet norms.

There are many LGBT folk that don’t identify with the word queer, and they are mostly folk who just want to blend in, live their life, and have people forget that they exist.

People who self label as queer though tend to want society to change to better fit us, they tend to be more vocal and open about rejecting the bullshit that society puts on us.

It depends on where you’re from and more so what you feel.

If you feel it’s an equivalent substitute, then it is for you and whoever else feels that way.

Personally I was brought up in the UK where queer in reference to LBGT (either as an insult or not) is largely an American loanword and if you asked the majority of people to define it they’d give you something along the lines of nauseas/slightly unwell or peculiar. That said, there are many Brits who identify as queer which is just as fine as people who identify as gay, which can mean either a masculine homosexual or a catch all LGBT+ term in British English but AFAIK is pretty much exclusively the former in the US?

Queer is great. It’s one syllable rather than four plus. And honestly, I think it comes off as a little more down to Earth.

Depending on the usage, yes.

Adding more and more letters isn’t just a problem for others, but as you carve GSM (gender and sexual minorities) into smaller and smaller buckets, then it becomes more obvious when one is excluded.

THAT being said, LGBTQ is sufficient for some people and not for others. Queer is often used in a derogatory way, and makes some people uncomfortable.

Language is tricky, and forcing a society to use specific words can also cause significant backlash. Should focus on fixing intent and not specific wording.

It varies from person to person. I personally like queer because it’s super “catch all” and I’m always confused asf.

That being said if you present yourself as an LGBT positive person I don’t think you’ll run into any trouble with it. I haven’t at least

Where I grew up ‘queer’ was used as an insult. But I use ‘queer’ to self-identify, and like you say it’s a catch-all for everything under the umbrella.

Context matters, I think. If someone’s talking about the queer community, it seems okay. If someone says, “You’re one of them queers, aintcha?” then it’s probably not okay.

At the end of the day, I guess I’ve always thought of it as a slur that we’ve taken back, y’know?

Ally, not queer myself but I am continually disappointed “Gender, Sexual, and Romantic Minorities” (GSRM) has not caught on.

I think it

• gets right to the heart of the issue

• already communicates intersectionality

• doesn’t require new letters to keep being added

I was in college (huge transphobe) and had a gender studies major sit me and some other students down for a 1.5 hour lesson

To my knowledge, queer can be used as a blanket term for “not-cis but it’s none of your fucking business.” At least this is how I use it anyway

Edit: The term might also help reduce violence against the lgbt. The current issue with cons and some libs is that they seem to think it’s alllllllllllll about talking about sex. A term like queer implies but doesn’t explicitly give details. Should they feel comfortable being fully out? 100%. Is that the safest move in the American christofascist-hellscape? Likely not yet :(

I love it honestly! Though, I do feel for the people that spent their lives hearing hurled as a slur. 😕

Yes and no. LGBT and it’s variations are “neutral”, while queer has a strong anti-assimilationist meaning behind. Queer also can easily represent uncommon or complex identities/orientations that aren’t (easily) represented by the acronym

Yes, “queer” originated as a slur and mostly got adapted as a self describing term for the community. I use it to describe myself and the community, partly because it rolls off the tongue more easily and partly because it’s a nice and easy term to describe everyone not cis heteronormative.

The term “punk” has a similar story, btw. It came into being as a slur for people that didn’t quite behave as expected by society and punks then took it as a name for themselves, saying “Yeah, I’m a punk, there’s nothing wrong with it and you can’t do shit against it,” which is also why I like to use the term “queer”. Because there’s nothing wrong with being queer and people can’t do shit against that.