🍄Queer

queer [kweer]

adjective, queer·er, queer·est.

  1. strange or odd from a conventional viewpoint; unusually different; singular: The court has a queer notion of justice.

    • Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive. (of a person) gay or lesbian.

    • noting or relating to a sexual orientation or gender identity that falls outside the heterosexual mainstream or the gender binary.

noun

  1. Often Disparaging and Offensive. (The noun “a queer” is often used with disparaging intent and considered offensive even among those who approve of the corresponding adjective “queer.” The plural “queers” is less likely to offend than the singular “a queer.”)

    • a gay or lesbian person.

    • a person whose sexual orientation or gender identity falls outside the heterosexual mainstream or the gender binary.

More personally, I use Wikipedia>Queer instead of LGBTQIAILUVBWSRLIUBV+ because that acronym is just ridiculous. One of the points behind labels like these is to make people feel included, and that's why the label keeps expanding. First it was LGBT, then it was LGBTQ, then it was LGBTQIA, now it's LGBTQIA+ and that's a lot of letters to say and a lot of letters to type and it's just not feasible to include everyone who identifies as non-heterosexual or non-cisgender. The Q in LGBTQIA+ is for queer and it was added as an umbrella to include “everyone else”.

  • Lesbian

  • Gay

  • Bisexual

  • Transgender

  • “Everyone else”

  • Intersex

  • Asexual

  • “Everyone else” again?

Queer is already an inclusive umbrella term. I think it's great and we should just stick with that. People used to use it in a disparaging and offensive manner, as described in the above definitions, but I think it should be embraced and Wikipedia>Reappropriated; it's perfect to describe a bunch of radical “different” people.