Is it offensive to call queer people ‘queers’

[courts]

Yes, and I wish the LGBT community hadn't tried to resuscitate the word. It's an ugly term that has always meant "weird", or "other" and not at all inclusive. Just say gay or trans or whatever.

gay had similar connotations not that long ago. personally i kind of like queer

[DaleCooper]

Yes, and I wish the LGBT community hadn't tried to resuscitate the word. It's an ugly term that has always meant "weird", or "other" and not at all inclusive. Just say gay or trans or whatever.

gay had similar connotations not that long ago. personally i kind of like queer

It had similar connotations but at least its primary definition wasn't negative. Queer is not just a word that means weird or other, it also implies that it's a weird or other that makes you uneasy and uncomfortable.

[Horus]

Yes, and I wish the LGBT community hadn't tried to resuscitate the word. It's an ugly term that has always meant "weird", or "other" and not at all inclusive. Just say gay or trans or whatever.

gay had similar connotations not that long ago. personally i kind of like queer

No, gay meant happy, queer meant weird or bizarre.

[courts]

Yes, and I wish the LGBT community hadn't tried to resuscitate the word. It's an ugly term that has always meant "weird", or "other" and not at all inclusive. Just say gay or trans or whatever.

gay had similar connotations not that long ago. personally i kind of like queer

No, gay meant happy, queer meant weird or bizarre.

heterosexual people were called straight because anything else was considered deviant and/or anti social behavior basically. straight as in... straight and narrow.

[Cokeland Saxton]

Depends on the person. I'm perfectly fine with it, but some people may not be.

[muon2]

Darn that English language for having so many synonyms available, that individual words can be periodically be appropriated for entirely different meanings. I'm still trying to explain to some of my fellow olds that gender and sex are no longer strict synonyms as they were 40 years ago.

[DavidB.]

I'm still trying to explain to some of my fellow olds that gender and sex are no longer strict synonyms as they were 40 years ago.

They still are. It's only gone out of fashion to say that.

[Skunk]

As always it depends on the context. The concept of reclaiming slurs has always been a divisive issue among LGBT people, with some being completely fine with the word altogether, some feeling it's only acceptable if LGBT people use it, and some not wanting to use the word at all. Queer as an adjective is gaining more mainstream attention lately because a lot of people have found it a useful label, especially if their gender and sexuality exist outside of the accepted binary. Generally speaking though it's offensive to use queer as a noun to refer to other people, as stated earlier in the thread.

[Ferguson97]

Most people I see using the queer label these days are straight white women that want to pretend they're part of the LGBTQJRGUTBWKSGUTN community

This is both incorrect and bigoted.

[fhtagn]

Most people I see using the queer label these days are straight white women that want to pretend they're part of the LGBTQJRGUTBWKSGUTN community

This is both incorrect and bigoted.

no u

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

As a transhet person, I find it important for a word like "queer" to exist. Not all LGBT people are gay, or even a sexual/romantic minority, and "LGBT" (and its variants) are a mouthful in spoken conversation, so "queer" is a great umbrella.

Isn't that the literal definition of the LGBTQ+ community?

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

As a transhet person, I find it important for a word like "queer" to exist. Not all LGBT people are gay, or even a sexual/romantic minority, and "LGBT" (and its variants) are a mouthful in spoken conversation, so "queer" is a great umbrella.

Isn't that the literal definition of the LGBTQ+ community?

There are straight trans people.

[TheReckoning]

As a transhet person, I find it important for a word like "queer" to exist. Not all LGBT people are gay, or even a sexual/romantic minority, and "LGBT" (and its variants) are a mouthful in spoken conversation, so "queer" is a great umbrella.

What does queer mean then?

"Queer" can refer to anybody who is not both cisgender and heterosexual.

I dont mean to ask something if it’s to private, but 1) what is your biological sex 2) what do gender do you identify with most 3) what are your pronouns and 4) what sex are you attracted to?

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

As a transhet person, I find it important for a word like "queer" to exist. Not all LGBT people are gay, or even a sexual/romantic minority, and "LGBT" (and its variants) are a mouthful in spoken conversation, so "queer" is a great umbrella.

Isn't that the literal definition of the LGBTQ+ community?

There are straight trans people.

That is a sexual minority.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

As a transhet person, I find it important for a word like "queer" to exist. Not all LGBT people are gay, or even a sexual/romantic minority, and "LGBT" (and its variants) are a mouthful in spoken conversation, so "queer" is a great umbrella.

Isn't that the literal definition of the LGBTQ+ community?

There are straight trans people.

That is a sexual minority.

Nope, heterosexuals are not a sexual minority. They're a gender minority. What makes a straight trans person queer has nothing to do with their sexuality, as being heterosexual isn't queer. Being transgender is queer, so that's what makes the straight trans person in question queer.

The definition of being queer or LGBTQ+, at least as far as I and most other people believe, is being anything that isn't heterosexual and cisgender. A cis lesbian and a straight trans dude would both fit the bill for being queer, even though the first person is cisgender and the second person is straight.

[Klobmentum Mutilated Herself]

Queer is also an important term for nonbinary people to describe their sexualities. If homosexuality is attraction to people with your own gender, heterosexuality is attraction to people with the opposite gender, then where does that put you if you're nonbinary person dating a trans man, or a nonbinary person dating a cis woman? What's opposite, what's the same? For many nonbinary, the ambiguity in the labeling is the whole point of subverting labels and binaries. For them, no pun intended, queer is an empowering word that is very descriptive in its lack of specification.

[No War, but the War on Christmas]

Honestly, I refer to myself as 'Queer' sometimes, and I think it's good to reclaim typically derogatory words and make them positive / disperse the stigma they hold. That being said, I don't think it's the first way you need to refer to a friend whose a member of the LGBT+ community unless you know they're specifically comfortable with it / already refer to themselves that way openly.

I can't think of a non-offensive way in which a straight person would use the word 'Queers' in passing fwiw.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

No but i think the prefered term is "queer folk."   Though personally I prefer "whites" or "white Americans" to "white people" (too much woke baggage)

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

I'm still trying to explain to some of my fellow olds that gender and sex are no longer strict synonyms as they were 40 years ago.

They still are. It's only gone out of fashion to say that.

Weird, I don't recall having gender with your mom last night.