When other lgbt folk get mad/tell me I can’t refer to myself as queer or use it as a umbrella term, it sets off alarm bells in my head but I’m not sure why. There’s something icky about it that I can’t quite put my finger on, and I was wondering if you had any idea?

Well, I’ve written and reblogged some stuff about it. Check out:

• http://queeranarchism.tumblr.com/post/157434955083/queer-arose-as-a-critique-of-the-assumptions
• http://queeranarchism.tumblr.com/post/176873547588/yall-please-stop-tagging-the-word-queer-as-q
• http://queeranarchism.tumblr.com/post/178274980533/oodlenoodleroodle-transkrem-like-people-who
• https://mineroftrenches.tumblr.com/post/170833733543/kyraneko-jenroses-brinconvenient

Super short summary:

• Queer challenges identity politics and creates space for inclusiveness.

• More marginalized LGBT people (POC, working-class, trans people, etc) have been and are the most actively using queer because of its political message and inclusiveness.

• Anti-queer sentiment is being pushed by exclusionists and TERFs who don’t like the political implications of queer

• Fake concern about ‘queer is a slur’ is used to normalize this anti-queer sentiment. 

• Everyone who uses queer already knows that it’s a slur, that’s why they chose to take it on as a badge of pride.

• As a slur, queer has been highly successfully reclaimed to the point of ‘queer studies’ at universities. The anti-queer crowd is actively undoing that process, giving the word back to our oppressors.