For those of you who identify as Queer

I don't identify as 'queer,' because I can easily be categorised as 'gay' and everyone will know exactly what that means. I am happy to be collectively included in a group labelled as 'queer' though, because it is a nice word that covers a lot of ground.

It's perfectly fine for someone to personally identify as queer, but if your orientation and gender expression can be categorised into already well-known terms then you're better off using those. Your little info thing next to your post says you're female and gay, so unless there's more going on than that, swapping to queer will just make it difficult for others to figure out what's going on.

 

I'm not fond of the word queer, sounds like a disease. It also has a negative meaning behind it.

 

Because the word feels powerful, and when I say I'm queer, people understand that means I like men.

 

It's the only way you can effectively say "I like men but I won't discount women."

 

Well I use "queer" since it means I don't have to decide between "gay" and "bi"...

It's also a term preferred by those who are more resistant against assimilation into mainstream heterosexual culture. Queer Liberation and all that jazz.

 

Queer, for many people, is very much a catch-all term. So for someone who's sexuality or gender can get a little complicated, or is a bit taxing to explain, it can be a lot easier to just tell someone that you're queer. By doing so, they may not know in what way exactly that I am queer, but it alludes to me being more than simply homosexual.

Besides...despite the term having the occasional negative connotation, I think it does have a very powerful undertone.

 

Same reason as Rakkaus... I'm somewhere in that twilight zone between homosexuality and bisexuality, so I feel like I'd be potentially either cutting myself short (by closing the opportunity to ever date women), or perhaps unintentionally deceiving others about my sexuality and thus giving bisexuals a bad name (as half-closeted gays, as if bisexuality doesn't exist)

---------- Post added 18th Sep 2012 at 09:55 AM ----------

I also tend to think of the word "queer" as meaning special. as if we have some magical powers or odd spells that the rest of humanity cannot wield, LOL.

 

I also agree with Rakkaus. It feels like a more radical word to use.

 

In my small group of friends, queer is used as more of a gender identity term than anything else. Anything that isn't hetero-normative. What does it mean to you?

 

i do. It fits. I don't understand anyone who takes offence to it.

 

Before I accepted my transgender identity I identified as gay, primarily because being with men made me feel feminine. While I'm just starting transition, I don't know how it may or may not effect my sex drive, attractions, or what I feel I need in a partner. As such I am attempting to remain open minded in the gender of my partner (as I am forcibly requesting of them) and lacking a proper label, I'm choosing to just go with queer for the time being. My sexual orientation isn't really my priority at the moment.

 

As one self-identified queer once put it:

Not "gay", as in, 'happy'..."queer", as in, 'f*** you!'

:eek:

 

I sometime use queer. To me, queer pretty much means "Not purely heterosexual." Basically, I've always thought of it as a catch-all term.

 

Also, it's a great word to use for the community as a whole. LGBTIAQWTFBBQ sucks.

 

yep

and it rhymes with here

"WE'RE HERE

WE'RE QUEER

WE DON'T WANT ANY MORE BEARS"

 

I'm an FTM transsexual who is STILL transgender, because I want my sex to be male in appearance USUALLY, but my gender is actually quite fluid at times. I like cisgendered men best, but I like masculinity and maleness in general, but I also like feminine males and I can sometimes like androgynous women and such.

... I'd say that covers why I'd call myself queer.

 

To me it seems to encompass all gay people as opposed to say him being gay...her being a lesbian...him being transgender...or her questioning..

we're ALL queer...so I'm queer.

 

I've never felt completely comfortable with the word, it seems too derogatory to me. Considering people still use queer to describe something odd or not right, to use the word to describe gay is like trying to retake fag and reverse it into something positive. But i have a suspicion that it might be a British thing, ive never heard anyone in this country identify as queer.

 

Part of me thinks that it's beating around the bush. Then again, part of me thinks people shouldn't have to explain how they identify their sexuality to anybody, least of all some gay dude who says "Just admit you're fucking gay." So, I guess, more power to ya'll