Why Queer?

In an email message a few days ago, a reader wrote that his one reservation about this site and its parent is the word "Queer" in the name:

But I do have to say that I kind of have issues with the word "queer" as it makes me cringe.  As a young person I didn't like hearing that word.  I guess that you could say that I have issues, but then again, don't we all. :)

Indeed we do, Mark - and I have issues with any alternative terms. However, a colleague at the Soho Masses some time ago made precisely the same observation to me, and so has my partner, Raymond. This is probably a reservation shared by many people, especially those from a generation who can remember when the word was widely used as a term of abuse and derision.

I do have very specific reasons for choosing this word as the best among a range of unsatisfactory choices, and explained these in one of my very first posts. As most of my present readers will not have seen my earliest writing, Mark's expression of regret has suggested to me that it could be helpful to repost the same original explanation - which I do below:

Here's why I like 'Queer'

Over the years, we've moved beyond gay, through gay & lesbian, LGB, LGBT, to LGBTQI  ( "Q =Queer" adds more sexual minorities, including the heterosexual flavour, such as S&M and cross-dressers; "I" goes beyond transgendered to "Intersex"). I'm sure we could further extend the acronym if we put our minds to it.

Queer by Any Other Name: Mark Jordan on Terminology

In the beginning was a word, and the word was “queer”. But this was seen as offensive, so we changed it to “gay”.  Many women felt they were not clearly included, so the words became “gay and lesbian”. Some thought this was a tautology, so it was spelt out: “gay men and lesbians”, sometimes “lesbians and gay men”.  “What about us?” asked the bisexuals, so it became “lesbians, gay men and bisexuals”.  But some men didn’t like being called gay, they were just “men who have sex with “men” – MSM. Then we realised there were others who were excluded – but lesbian gay bisexual and transgendered was too much of a mouthful, so it became LGBT, later extended to LGBTQI – so adding “queer” (now including all other sexual minorities, or none) and “intersex”.

Yesterday, Michael Bayley and I had a short interchange in the comments thread to a post at Wild Reed (an important one, which I plan to address separately.  In the meantime, read and think about the post at “An exciting endeavour”, or just read the comments.)

In yet another example of staggering synchronicity, one of the first news reports I saw this morning on my personalised Google News page was a report of a lecture by Mark Jordan on exactly this topic, together with a comment which pretty will sums up my feelings – but ever so much more eloquently.

(Before giving you Prof Jordan’s remarks, I should clarify may own stance on this blog.  I don’t like any of the terms that are used, but my preference is “Queer”, with a very specific new meaning.  But I recognise that many people either dislike the term, or are not familiar with the modern usage.    So, in a spirit of inclusiveness, I try to use a range of the less offensive terms without discrimination – and with no attempt to be consistent).

Here follow extracts from the lecture (from Yale Daily News):