Editing Queer (section)

===General===
[[File:"Queer Resistsance Against the Cuts".jpg|thumb|Queer resistance banner at a march]]
Beginning in the 1980s, the label ''queer'' began to be [[reappropriation|reclaimed]] from its pejorative use as a neutral or positive self-identifier by LGBTQ people.<ref name="oed"/> An early example of this usage was by an LGBTQ organisation called [[Queer Nation]], which was formed in March 1990 and circulated an anonymous flier at the [[Gay Pride Parade (New York City)|New York Gay Pride Parade]] in June 1990 titled "[[Queers Read This]]".<ref name=QN1>{{cite web|url= http://www.qrd.org/qrd/misc/text/queers.read.this|title= Queers Read This|last1= Queer Nation|date= June 1990|access-date= 2010-02-04|archive-date= 2023-06-15|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230615015513/http://qrd.org/qrd/misc/text/queers.read.this|url-status= live}}</ref> The flier included a passage explaining their adoption of the label queer:

{{blockquote|Ah, do we really have to use that word? It's trouble. Every gay person has his or her own take on it. For some it means strange and eccentric and kind of mysterious [...] And for others "queer" conjures up those awful memories of adolescent suffering [...] Well, yes, "gay" is great. It has its place. But when a lot of lesbians and gay men wake up in the morning we feel angry and disgusted, not gay. So we've chosen to call ourselves queer. Using "queer" is a way of reminding us how we are perceived by the rest of the world.<ref name=QN1/>}}

Queer people, particularly queer Black and Brown people, also began to reclaim ''queer'' in response to a perceived shift in the gay community toward [[liberal conservatism]], catalyzed by [[Andrew Sullivan]]'s 1989 piece in ''[[The New Republic]]'', titled ''Here Comes the Groom: The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage''.<ref name="duggan">{{cite book|last= Duggan|first= Lisa|date= 2003|title= The Twilight of Equality?: Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and the Attack on Democracy|url= https://archive.org/details/twilightofequali00lisa/page/60|location= Boston|publisher= Beacon Press|page= [https://archive.org/details/twilightofequali00lisa/page/60 60]|isbn= 9780807079553}}</ref> By identifying themselves as ''queer'' rather than ''gay,'' LGBTQ activists sought to reject causes they viewed as [[cultural assimilation|assimilationist]], such as [[same-sex marriage|marriage]], [[LGBTQ people and military service|military inclusion]] and adoption.<ref name=Sycamore>{{cite book|last1=Sycamore|first1=Mattilda Bernstein|author-link=Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore|title=That's Revolting!: Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation|date=2008|publisher=Counterpoint Press|isbn=9781593761950|page=1|edition=illustrated, revised|quote=Willful participation in U.S. imperialism is crucial to the larger goal of assimilation, as the holy trinity of marriage, military service and adoption has become the central preoccupation of a gay movement centered more on obtaining straight privilege than challenging power |url=https://archive.org/details/thatsrevoltingqu0000unse |access-date=July 17, 2024 |url-access=registration |via=[[Open Library]]}}</ref> This radical stance, including the rejection of U.S. imperialism,<ref name=Sycamore/> continued the tradition of earlier lesbian and gay anti-war activism, and solidarity with a variety of leftist movements, as seen in the positions taken at the first two [[National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights|National Marches on Washington in 1979]] and [[Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights|1987]], the radical direct action of groups like [[ACT UP]], and the historical importance of events like the [[Stonewall riots]]. The radical queer groups following in this tradition of LGBTQ activism contrasted firmly with "the holy trinity of marriage, military service and adoption [which had] become the central preoccupation of a gay movement centered more on obtaining straight privilege than challenging power."<ref name=Sycamore/> Commentators such as Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore have argued that it was exactly these "revolting queers" (who were now being pushed aside) who had made it safe for the assimilationists to now have the option of assimilation.<ref name=Sycamore/>