The conversation surrounding the word ‘queer’ is evolving

 | 
09/09/2020

Reclamation is an immensely powerful tool as communities and individuals have been reclaiming hate speech to take the power of these words back. Recently, a large part of the LGBTQ+ community has reclaimed the word “queer,” freeing it from centuries of negative association. “Queer” is still defined as strange or odd, even perverse. It is believed to have been derived from the German word “quer,” which means crosswise or slanting, literally not straight. In the 1800s, it was used to describe men who were effeminate, or not straight, even though heterosexuality was not yet clearly defined as a sexual identity — because it was considered the norm. The first account of the word “queer” being used as a slur is by Lord Douglas, Ninth Marquess of Queensbury, where he denounced his son’s supposed lover, Lord Rosebery, with the phrase “snob queers like Rosebery” in the late 1800s. By the 1950s, the word had lost its primary meaning of strange and was chiefly used as a homophobic slur. It was only in the late eighties that a movement was started to re-appropriate the word.

Share this:

Latest Global News

Added on: 12/23/2024
12/23/2024
The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rt. Rev Dr. Abraham Nana Opare Kwakye, has called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to …
Added on: 12/23/2024
12/22/2024
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Sunday he sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association, accusing the organization of misleading college sports fans by allowing …
Added on: 12/23/2024
12/22/2024
Sandi Toksvig, the Danish-British comedian, broadcaster and activist, is getting ready to put on a Christmas show, heading back to the same stage in …

Explore LGBTQ+ Issues

Added on: 12/23/2024
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Sunday he sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association, accusing the organization of misleading college sports fans by allowing …
Added on: 12/23/2024
Sandi Toksvig, the Danish-British comedian, broadcaster and activist, is getting ready to put on a Christmas show, heading back to the same stage in …
Added on: 12/22/2024
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced this week that the Boulder County Courthouse in Colorado has been designated a National Historic Landmark …