Editing Queer

{{Short description|People who are not heterosexual or not cisgender}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{LGBTQ sidebar}}
{{Sexual orientation}}
'''Queer''' is an [[umbrella term]] for people who are [[non-heterosexual]] or non-[[cisgender]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of QUEER |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/queer |access-date=2024-02-17 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en |archive-date=2019-12-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191202200538/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/queer |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=December 11, 2019 |title=The 'Q' in LGBTQ: Queer/Questioning |url=https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/the-q-in-lgbtq-queer-questioning#:~:text=The%20acronym%20increasingly%20includes%20the,same%2Dsex%20attraction%20and%20behaviors. |access-date=March 3, 2024 |website=American Psychiatric Association}}</ref> Originally meaning {{gloss|strange}} or {{gloss|peculiar}}, ''queer'' came to be used [[pejorative]]ly against [[LGBTQ people]] in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to [[reappropriation|reclaim]] the word as a neutral or positive self-description.<ref name=QN1/><ref name=Sycamore/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Barker |first=Meg-John |title=Queer: A Graphic History |publisher=Icon Books, Ltd. |year=2016 |isbn=9781785780721}}</ref>

In the 21st century, ''queer'' became increasingly used to describe a broad spectrum of non-[[heteronormative]] sexual or gender identities and politics.<ref name="oed">{{cite encyclopedia | year =2014 | title = queer | encyclopedia = Oxford English Dictionary | publisher = Oxford University Press}}</ref><ref>“Queer, Adj. (1), Sense 3.b.” ''Oxford English Dictionary'', Oxford UP, March 2024, <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/2958900538</nowiki>.</ref> Academic disciplines such as [[queer theory]] and [[queer studies]] share a general opposition to [[Gender binary|binarism]], [[normativity]], and a perceived lack of [[intersectionality]], some of them only tangentially connected to the LGBTQ movement. Queer arts, queer cultural groups, and queer political groups are examples of modern expressions of queer identities.

Critics of the term include members of the [[LGBTQ community]] who associate it more with its colloquial, derogatory usage;<ref name=WG/> those who wish to dissociate themselves from [[queer radicalism]];<ref name=Gamson/> and those who see it as too amorphous or trendy.<ref name="AyoubPaternotte2014"/> ''Queer'' is sometimes expanded to include any non-normative sexuality, including cisgender [[queer heterosexuality]], although some LGBTQ people view this use of the term as [[Cultural appropriation#Gender and sexuality|appropriation]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Kassel|first=Gabrielle|date=2021-06-04|title=Can Straight People Call Themselves Queer Without Being Appropriative? It's Complicated|url=https://www.wellandgood.com/queer-cultural-appropriation/|access-date=2022-01-16|website=Well+Good|language=en|archive-date=2022-01-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117210505/https://www.wellandgood.com/queer-cultural-appropriation/|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Origins and early use ==
Entering the English language in the [[{{ordinal|16}} century]], ''queer'' originally meant {{gloss|strange}}, {{gloss|odd}}, {{gloss|peculiar}}, or {{gloss|eccentric}}. It might refer to something suspicious or "not quite right", or to a person with mild derangement or who exhibits socially inappropriate behaviour.<ref name="oed"/><ref name="mw">{{cite encyclopedia | year = 2014 | title = queer | encyclopedia = Merriam-Webster | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica | url = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/queer | access-date = 2014-01-31 | archive-date = 2017-10-03 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171003084434/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/queer | url-status = live }}</ref> The [[English language in Northern England|Northern English]] expression "[[wikt:there's nowt so queer as folk|there's nowt so queer as folk]]", meaning "there is nothing as strange as people", employs this meaning.<ref>{{cite web|title=there's nowt so queer as folk|url=http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/there-s-nowt-so-queer-as-folk|work=Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary and Thesaurus (via Cambridge Dictionaries Online)|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|access-date=2 November 2015}}</ref> Related meanings of ''queer'' include a feeling of unwellness or something that is questionable or suspicious.<ref name="oed"/><ref name="mw"/> In the 1922 comic [[monologue]] "[[My Word, You Do Look Queer]]", the word is taken to mean "unwell".<ref>[https://www.monologues.co.uk/Stanley-Holloway/You-Do-Look-Queer.htm "My Word, You Do Look Queer", ''Monologues.co.uk''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128050801/https://www.monologues.co.uk/Stanley-Holloway/You-Do-Look-Queer.htm |date=2021-01-28 }}. Retrieved 17 January 2021</ref> The expression "in [[Queer street]]" is used in the United Kingdom for someone in financial trouble. Over time, ''queer'' acquired a number of meanings related to sexuality and gender, from narrowly meaning "gay or lesbian"<ref name="AHD-queer">{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|queer}}</ref> to referring to those who are "not heterosexual" to referring to those who are either not heterosexual or not cisgender (those who are [[LGBTQ+]]).<ref name="AHD-queer"/><ref>Jodi O'Brien, ''Encyclopedia of Gender and Society'' (2009), volume 1.</ref> The term is still widely used in [[Hiberno-English]] with its original meaning as well as to provide adverbial emphasis (very, extremely).<ref name="Dolan1">{{cite book |last1=Dolan |first1=Terence Patrick |author1-link=Terence Dolan |title=A Dictionary of Hiberno English: The Irish Use of English |date=2006 |publisher=[[Gill Books]] |location=[[Dublin]] |isbn=978-0717190201 |pages=187 |edition=2nd |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofhibe0000dola/page/186/ |access-date=6 June 2023 |language=en-IE |chapter=Q}}</ref>

=== Early pejorative use ===
By the late 19th century, ''queer'' was beginning to gain a connotation of sexual deviance, used to refer to feminine men or men who were thought to have engaged in same-sex relationships. An early recorded usage of the word in this sense was in an 1894 letter by [[John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry]], as read aloud at the trial of [[Oscar Wilde#Trials|Oscar Wilde]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Foldy |first=Michael S. |title=The Trials of Oscar Wilde: Deviance, Morality, and Late-Victorian Society |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1997 |isbn=9780300071122 |pages=22–23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Robb |first=Graham |title=Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=2005 |isbn=9780393326499 |pages=262}}</ref>

''Queer'' was used in mainstream society by the early 20th century, along with ''fairy'' and ''faggot'', as a pejorative term to refer to men who were perceived as flamboyant. This was, as historian [[George Chauncey]] notes, "the predominant image of ''all'' queers within the straight mind".<ref name="Chauncey">{{Cite book|title=Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940|last=Chauncey|first=George|publisher=Basic Books|year=1995|isbn=9780465026210|pages=[https://archive.org/details/gaynewyork00geor/page/13 13–16]|url=https://archive.org/details/gaynewyork00geor/page/13}}</ref>

Starting in the underground gay bar scene in the 1950s,<ref name=GrahnGay>{{cite book |title=Another Mother Tongue - Gay Words, Gay Worlds |last=Grahn |first=Judy |author-link=Judy Grahn |publisher=Beacon Press |year=1984 |isbn=0-8070-7911-1 |location=Boston, MA |pages=[https://archive.org/details/anothermotherto000grah/page/30 30–33] |url=https://archive.org/details/anothermotherto000grah/page/30 }}</ref> then moving more into the open in the 1960s and 1970s, the [[homophile]] identity was gradually displaced by a more radicalized ''[[gay]]'' identity. At that time ''gay'' was generally an umbrella term including [[lesbian]]s, as well as gay-identified [[bisexuality|bisexuals]] and [[transsexual]]s; [[gender nonconformity]], which had always been an indicator of gayness,<ref name=GrahnGay/> also became more open during this time. During the [[endonym]]ic shifts from ''invert'' to ''homophile'' to ''gay'', ''queer'' was usually pejoratively applied to men who were believed to engage in receptive or passive [[Anal sex|anal]] or [[oral sex]] with other men<ref>{{cite journal|last=Robertson|first=Stephen|year=2002|title=A Tale of Two Sexual Revolutions|journal=Australasian Journal of American Studies|publisher=Australia and New Zealand American Studies Association|volume=21|issue=1|jstor=41053896|pages=103|quote=The most striking addition to the picture offered by D'Emilio and Freedman is a working-class sexual culture in which only those men who took the passive or feminine role were considered 'queer.' A man who took the 'active role,' who inserted his penis into another man, remained a 'straight' man, even when he had an on-going relationship with a man who took the passive role.}}</ref> as well as those who exhibited non-normative gender expressions.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Czyzselska|first=Jane|year=1996|title=untitled|journal=Pride 1996 Magazine|location=London|publisher=Pride Trust & Gay Times|page=15}}</ref>

=== Early 20th-century queer identity ===
[[File:Drag_Ball_in_Webster_Hall--1920s.jpg|thumb|265x265px|[[Drag ball|Drag Ball]] in [[Webster Hall]], {{circa}} 1920s. Many queer-identifying men distanced themselves from the "flagrant" public image of gay men as effeminate "fairies".{{r|Chauncey|pp=16, 298}}]]
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, ''queer'', ''[[fairy (gay slang)|fairy]]'', ''[[Trade (gay slang)|trade]]'', and ''gay'' signified distinct social categories within the gay male subculture. In his book ''Gay New York'', Chauncey noted that ''queer'' was used as a within-community identity term by men who were stereotypically masculine.<ref name="Barrett">{{cite book|last= Barrett |first= R. |date= 2009 |editor-last= Mey |editor-first= Jacob L. |title= Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics |publisher= Elsevier |pages=821 |chapter=Queer Talk |isbn=978-0080962986}}: "In the early 20th century in the United States, the term queer was used as a term of self-reference (or identity category) for homosexual men who adopted masculine behavior (Chauncey, 1994: 16-18)."</ref> Many queer-identified men at the time were, according to Chauncey, "repelled by the style of the ''fairy'' and his loss of manly status, and almost all were careful to distinguish themselves from such men", especially because the dominant straight culture did not acknowledge such distinctions. ''Trade'' referred to straight men who would engage in same-sex activity; Chauncey describes trade as "the 'normal men' [queers] claimed to be."<ref name="Chauncey" />

In contrast to the terms used within the subculture, medical practitioners and police officers tended to use medicalized or pathological terms like "invert", "pervert", "degenerate", and "homosexual".<ref name="Chauncey" />

None of the terms, whether inside or outside of the subculture, equated to the general concept of a homosexual identity, which only emerged with the ascension of a binary (heterosexual/homosexual) understanding of sexual orientation in the 1930s and 1940s. As this binary became embedded into the social fabric, ''queer'' began to decline as an acceptable identity in the subculture.<ref name="Chauncey" />

Similar to the earlier use of ''queer'', ''gay'' was adopted by many U.S. [[Cultural assimilation|assimilationist]] men in the mid-20th century as a means of asserting their normative status and rejecting any associations with [[effeminacy]]. The idea that ''queer'' was a pejorative term became more prevalent among younger gay men following [[World War II]]. As the gay identity became more widely adopted in the community, some men who preferred to identify as ''gay'' began chastising older men who still referred to themselves as ''queer'' by the late 1940s:

<blockquote>In calling themselves gay, a new generation of men insisted on the right to name themselves, to claim their status as men, and to reject the "effeminate" styles of the older generation. [...] Younger men found it easier to forget the origins of gay in the campy banter of the very queens whom they wished to reject.{{r|Chauncey|p=19-20}}</blockquote>In other parts of the world, particularly England, ''queer'' continued to be the dominant term used by the community well into the mid-twentieth century, as noted by historical sociologist Jeffrey Weeks:<blockquote>By the 1950s and 1960s to say "I am queer" was to tell of who and what you were, and how you positioned yourself in relation to the dominant, "normal" society. … It signaled the general perception of same-sex desire as something eccentric, strange, abnormal, and perverse.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Weeks |first=Jeffrey |date=2012 |title=Queer(y)ing the "Modern Homosexual" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23265593 |journal=Journal of British Studies |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=523–539 |doi=10.1086/664956 |jstor=23265593 |s2cid=143022465 |issn=0021-9371|url-access=subscription }}</ref></blockquote>

== Reclamation ==
===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/>

===Other usage===
The term may be capitalized when referring to an [[Identity (social science)|identity]] or community, in a construction similar to the capitalized use of [[Deaf culture|Deaf]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Deaf Culture|url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/deaf_culture.html|publisher=[[glbtq.com]]|access-date=9 March 2015|date=2005|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402092728/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/deaf_culture.html|archive-date=2 April 2015}}</ref> The 'Q' in extended versions of the LGBTQ acronym, such as ''LGBTQIA+'',<ref>{{Cite web|title=LGBTQIA+|url=https://uncw.edu/lgbtqia/facstaff-resources/lgbtqia.html|access-date=2021-10-10|website=www.uncw.edu|language=en|archive-date=2021-08-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831162512/https://uncw.edu/lgbtqia/facstaff-resources/lgbtqia.html|url-status=live}}</ref> is most often considered an abbreviation of queer. It can also stand for [[Questioning (sexuality and gender)|questioning]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grisham |first1=Lori |title=What does the Q in LGBTQ stand for? |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/06/01/lgbtq-questioning-queer-meaning/26925563/ |website=USA Today |publisher=USA Today Network |access-date=30 June 2021 |archive-date=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301040012/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/06/01/lgbtq-questioning-queer-meaning/26925563/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Reactions===
Reclamation and use of the term ''queer'' is controversial; several people and organizations, both LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ, object to some or all uses of the word for various reasons.<ref>For example, see Drew Cordes [http://www.bilerico.com/2012/02/new_yorker_magazine_refuses_to_print_the_word_quee.php "New Yorker magazine refuses to use the word queer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220113424/http://www.bilerico.com/2012/02/new_yorker_magazine_refuses_to_print_the_word_quee.php |date=2014-02-20 }}. Retrieved 29 January 2014.</ref> Some LGBTQ people dislike the use of ''queer'' as an umbrella term because they associate it with political and social radicalism. Sociologist [[Joshua Gamson]] argues that the controversy about the word also marks a social and political divide in the LGBTQ community between those (including civil-rights activists) who perceive themselves as "normal" and who wish to be seen as ordinary members of society and those who see themselves as separate, confrontational or not part of the ordinary social order.<ref name=Gamson>{{cite journal|last1=Gamson|first1=Joshua|title=Must Identity Movements Self-Destruct? A Queer Dilemma|journal=Social Problems|date=August 1995|volume=42|issue=3|pages=390–407|doi=10.1525/sp.1995.42.3.03x0104z}}</ref> Other LGBTQ people disapprove of reclaiming or using ''queer'' because they consider it offensive, in part due to its continued use as a pejorative.<ref name=WG>Wisegeek, [http://www.wisegeek.org/is-queer-a-derogatory-word.htm "Is Queer a Derogatory Word?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618025911/http://www.wisegeek.org/is-queer-a-derogatory-word.htm |date=2018-06-18 }} Retrieved 2 October 2023.</ref> Some LGBTQ people avoid ''queer'' because they perceive it as faddish slang, or alternatively as academic jargon.<ref name="AyoubPaternotte2014">{{cite book|author1=Phillip Ayoub|author2=David Paternotte|title=LGBT Activism and the Making of Europe: A Rainbow Europe?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7hlHBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT137|date=28 October 2014|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-137-39177-3|pages=137–138}}</ref>

==Scope==

===Intersex and queer identities===
{{further|Intersex and LGBT}}
Scholars and activists have proposed different ways in which queer identities apply or do not apply to [[intersex]] people. Sociologist [[Morgan Holmes]] and bioethicists [[Morgan Carpenter]] and [[Katrina Karkazis]] have documenting a heteronormativity in medical rationales for the surgical normalization of infants and children born with atypical sex development, and Holmes and Carpenter have described intersex bodies as ''queer bodies''.<ref>{{Cite journal| last = Holmes| first = Morgan| author-link = Morgan Holmes| date = May 1994| pages = 11–130| journal = UnderCurrents| url = https://currents.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/currents/article/view/37695| title = Re-membering a Queer Body| volume = 6| publisher = Faculty of Environmental Studies, [[York University]], Ontario| doi = 10.25071/2292-4736/37695| s2cid = 142878263| doi-access = free| access-date = 2019-07-28| archive-date = 2021-03-08| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210308101136/https://currents.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/currents/article/view/37695| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Carpenter |first=Morgan |date=18 June 2013 |title=Australia can lead the way for intersex people |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/18/intersex-people-australia |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=2014-12-29 |archive-date=2014-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015051611/http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/18/intersex-people-australia |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1080/13691058.2020.1781262| issn = 1369-1058| pages = 516–532| last = Carpenter| first = Morgan| author-link = Morgan Carpenter |title = Intersex human rights, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics and the Yogyakarta principles plus 10| journal = Culture, Health & Sexuality| date = 2020| volume = 23| issue = 4| pmid = 32679003| s2cid = 220631036}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| publisher = [[Duke University Press]]| last = Karkazis| first = Katrina| author-link = Katrina Karkazis| title = Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience| isbn = 978-0822343189| date = November 2009| title-link = Fixing Sex}}</ref> In "What Can Queer Theory Do for Intersex?" [[Iain Morland]] contrasts queer "hedonic activism" with an experience of insensate post-surgical intersex bodies to claim that "queerness is characterized by the sensory interrelation of pleasure and shame".<ref name="after">{{cite journal |editor1-last=Morland |editor1-first=Iain |editor1-link=Iain Morland |date=2009 |title=Intersex and After |url=https://www.dukeupress.edu/Intersex-and-After/ |journal=[[GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies]] |volume=15 |issue=2 |isbn=978-0-8223-6705-5 |access-date=2014-12-26 |archive-date=2014-12-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226163534/https://www.dukeupress.edu/Intersex-and-After/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[Emi Koyama]] describes a move away from a queer identity model within the intersex movement:

<blockquote>Such tactic [of reclaiming labels] was obviously influenced by queer identity politics of the 1980s and 90s that were embodied by such groups as Queer Nation and Lesbian Avengers. But unfortunately, intersex activists quickly discovered that the intersex movement could not succeed under this model. For one thing, there were far fewer intersex people compared to the large and visible presence of LGBTQ people in most urban centers. For another, activists soon realized that most intersex individuals were not interested in building intersex communities or culture; what they sought were professional psychological support to live ordinary lives as ordinary men and women and not the adoption of new, misleading identity. ... To make it worse, the word "intersex" began to attract individuals who are not necessarily intersex, but feel that they might be, because they are queer or trans. ... Fortunately, the intersex movement did not rely solely on queer identity model for its strategies.<ref name=DSD>{{cite web |url= http://www.intersexinitiative.org/articles/intersextodsd.html |title= From 'Intersex' to 'DSD': Toward a Queer Disability Politics of Gender |first1= Emi |last1= Koyama |website= Intersex Initiative |access-date= 30 Sep 2015 |archive-date= 28 September 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150928013641/http://www.intersexinitiative.org/articles/intersextodsd.html |url-status= live }}</ref> </blockquote>

===Queer heterosexuality===
{{main|Queer heterosexuality}}

''Queer'' is sometimes expanded to include any non-normative sexuality,<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/queer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322182207/https://www.lexico.com/definition/queer |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 22, 2020 |title=queer |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> including (cisgender) "[[queer heterosexuality]]". This has been criticized by some LGBTQ people, who argue that ''queer'' can only be reclaimed by those it has been used to oppress: "A straight person identifying as queer can feel like choosing to [[cultural appropriation|appropriate]] the good bits, the cultural and political cachet, the clothes and the sound of gay culture, without ... the internalized homophobia of lived gay experience."<ref name=appropriation>{{cite news |last=Mortimer |first=Dora |date=9 Feb 2016 |title=Can Straight People Be Queer? - An increasing number of young celebrities are labeling themselves 'queer.' But what does this mean for the queer community? |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/can-straight-people-be-queer-435/ |website=[[Vice Media]] |access-date=2018-12-12 |archive-date=2018-12-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215224855/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/avy9vz/can-straight-people-be-queer-435 |url-status=live }}</ref> Many queer people believe that "you don't have to identify as queer if you're on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, but you do have to be on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum to identify as queer."<ref name=":0" />

==Academia==
{{Main|Queer studies|Queer theory}}
In academia, the term ''queer'' (and the related verb ''[[queering]]'') broadly indicate the study of literature, discourse, academic fields, and other social and cultural areas from a non-[[Heterosexuality|heterosexual]] or non-[[cisgender]] viewpoint. Though the fields of queer studies and queer theory are broad, such studies often focus on LGBTQ+ lives, and may involve challenging the assumption that being heterosexual and cisgender are the default or "normal". Queer theory, in particular, may embrace ambiguities and fluidity in traditionally "stable" categories such as ''gay'' or ''straight.''<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Samuels |first=Jacinth |date=1999-01-31 |title=Dangerous Liaisons: Queer Subjectivity, Liberalism and Race |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/095023899335383 |journal=Cultural Studies |language=en |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=91–92 |doi=10.1080/095023899335383 |issn=0950-2386 |access-date=2024-07-18 |archive-date=2024-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718132724/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/095023899335383 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jagose |first=Annamarie |title=Queer Theory: an introduction |publisher=New York Univ. Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-8147-4234-1 |edition=Repr |location=New York |publication-date=2010 |pages=1–2}}</ref>

[[Queer studies]] is the study of issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity, usually focusing on LGBTQ people and cultures. Originally centered on [[LGBTQ history]] and [[literary theory]], the field has expanded to include the academic study of issues raised in [[biology]], [[sociology]], [[anthropology]], [[history of science]], [[philosophy]], [[psychology]], [[sexology]], [[political science]], [[ethics]], and other fields by an examination of the identity, lives, history, and perception of queer people. Organizations such as the [[Irish Queer Archive]] attempt to collect and preserve history related to queer studies.

[[Queer theory]] is a field of [[post-structuralist]] [[critical theory]] that emerged in the early 1990s out of the fields of queer studies and [[women's studies]]. Applications of queer theory include [[queer theology]] and [[queer pedagogy]]. Philosopher [[Judith Butler]] has described queer theory as a site of "collective contestation", referring to its commitment to challenging easy categories and definitions.<ref>{{Citation |last=Butler |first=Judith |title=Critically Queer |date=2020-04-03 |work=Playing with Fire: Queer Politics, Queer Theories |pages=11–29 |editor-last=Phelan |editor-first=Shane |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781134717507/chapters/10.4324/9780203760505-3 |access-date=2024-07-18 |edition=1 |publisher=Routledge |language=en |doi=10.4324/9780203760505-3 |isbn=978-0-203-76050-5|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Critics of queer theory argue that this refusal of straightforward categories can make the discipline overly abstract or detached from reality.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Seidman |first=Steven |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9780511557910/type/book |title=Difference Troubles: Queering Social Theory and Sexual Politics |chapter=Identity and politics in a "postmodern" gay culture |date=1997-10-09 |pages=109–138 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-59043-3 |edition=1 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511557910.008 |access-date=2024-07-18 |archive-date=2024-10-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001033402/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/difference-troubles/E9B4237FECEF861802EC97E20BF1F5E8 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Queer theorists such as [[Rod Ferguson]], [[Jasbir Puar]], [[Lisa Duggan]], and [[Chong-suk Han]] have critiqued the mainstream gay political movement as allied with [[neoliberal]] and [[imperialistic]] agendas, including gay tourism, gay and trans military inclusion, and state- and church-sanctioned marriages for monogamous gay couples. Puar, a queer theorist of color, specifically coined the term ''[[homonationalism]]'' to refer to the perceived rise of [[American exceptionalism]], [[nationalism]], [[white supremacy]], and [[patriarchy]] within the gay community, catalyzed in response to the [[September 11 attacks]].<ref name="puar">{{cite book |last= Puar|first= Jasbir|date= 2007|title= Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times|publisher= Duke University Press|isbn= 9780822341147}}</ref>

In their research on the queer movements of [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]], scholars Jón Ingvar Kjaran and Mohammad Naeimi have said that the "localization of modern queer identity", rooted in local interpretations of queer theory and "Muslim modernism", has helped queer Indonesians and Malaysians to "promote their self-construction and organize a collective mobilization for their rights". They contrast this with the rhetoric of those conservative Muslim homophobes who portray "gay" or "LGBTQ" identities as a form of Western imperialism, as well as the "Eurocentric discourse", homonationalism and [[homonormativity]] of "LGBTQ politics" in the [[Global North and Global South|global north]].<ref name=":2">{{Citation |last=Kjaran |first=Jón Ingvar |title=Politics of Modernity: Hybridity, Sexual Politics, and Queer Movements in the Global South |date=2022 |work=Queer Social Movements and Activism in Indonesia and Malaysia |pages=73–102 |editor-last=Kjaran |editor-first=Jón Ingvar |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-15809-4_4 |access-date=2024-09-03 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-15809-4_4 |isbn=978-3-031-15809-4 |last2=Naeimi |first2=Mohammad |editor2-last=Naeimi |editor2-first=Mohammad |archive-date=2024-09-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240903065420/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-15809-4_4 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Culture and politics==
Several [[LGBTQ social movements]] around the world use the identifier ''queer'', such as the [[Queer Cyprus Association]] in Cyprus and the [[Queer Youth Network]] in the UK. In India, [[pride parade]]s include [[Queer Azaadi Mumbai]] and the [[Delhi Queer Pride Parade]]. The use of ''queer'' and ''Q'' is also widespread in Australia, including national counselling and support service Qlife<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.qlife.org.au |title=Home |access-date=January 31, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202221819/https://www.qlife.org.au/ |archive-date=February 2, 2014 }}</ref> and ''[[QNews]]''.

Other social movements exist as offshoots of queer culture or combinations of queer identity with other views.<ref name=":2" /><ref>Miskolci, Richard. "Foreword". In Pereira, Pedro Paulo Gomes. ''Queer in the tropics: gender and sexuality in the Global South''. Springer, 2019. p. ix.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=McEwen |first=Haley |last2=Milani |first2=Tommaso M |date=2014-10-02 |title=queer & trans Art-iculations : Decolonising gender and sexualities in the global South |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10130950.2014.993832 |journal=Agenda |language=en |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=3–8 |doi=10.1080/10130950.2014.993832 |issn=1013-0950 |access-date=2024-09-03 |archive-date=2024-10-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001033358/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10130950.2014.993832 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Adherents of [[queer nationalism]] support the notion that the LGBTQ community forms a distinct people due to their unique culture and customs. [[Queercore]] (originally ''homocore'') is a cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of [[Punk subculture|punk]] expressed in a do-it-yourself style through zines, music, writing, art and film.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nault |first=Curran |date=2017 |title=Queercore-Queer Punk Media Subculture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IxIwDwAAQBAJ |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781315317847 |access-date=2024-04-05 |archive-date=2024-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240811132034/https://books.google.com/books?id=IxIwDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Warfield |editor-first1=Liam |editor-last2=Crasshole |editor-first2=Walter |editor-last3=Leyser |editor-first3=Yony |date=2021 |title=Queercore-How to Punk a Revolution: An Oral History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ebRHEAAAQBAJ |publisher=PM Press |isbn=9781629638201 |access-date=2024-04-05 |archive-date=2024-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240811132034/https://books.google.com/books?id=ebRHEAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The term [[queer migration]] is used to describe the movement of LGBTQ people around the world often to escape discrimination or ill treatment due to their orientation or gender expression. Organizations such as the [[Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees]] and [[Rainbow Railroad]] attempt to assist individuals in such relocations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rainbowrailroad.ca/whatwedo |title=Rainbow Railroad - What we do |access-date=January 9, 2018 |archive-date=June 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625184804/https://www.rainbowrailroad.ca/whatwedo |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Flag===
[[File:Queer Flag.svg|thumb|upright|Queer pride flag]]
A [[pride flag]] for the queer community was created in 2015, though it is not widely known.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.hrc.org/resources/lgbtq-pride-flags |title= LGBTQ+ Pride Flags|website=Human Rights Campaign |access-date= 2024-11-10}}</ref> Its colors include blue and pink for [[gay|attraction to the same gender]], orange and green for [[non-binary gender|non-binary]] people, and black and white for [[agender]], [[asexuality|asexual]], and [[aromantic]] people.

==Art==
The label ''queer'' is often applied to art movements, particularly cinema. [[New queer cinema]] was a movement in queer-themed independent filmmaking in the early 1990s. Modern queer film festivals include the [[Melbourne Queer Film Festival]] and [[Mardi Gras Film Festival]] (run by Queer Screen) in Australia, the [[Mumbai Queer Film Festival]] in India, the [[Asian Queer Film Festival]] in Japan, and [[Queersicht]] in Switzerland. Chinese film director [[Cui Zi'en]] titled his 2008 documentary about homosexuality in China ''[[Queer China, 'Comrade' China|Queer China]]'', which premiered at the 2009 Beijing Queer Film Festival after previous attempts to hold a queer film festival were shut down by the government.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/18/gays-in-china-beijing-que_n_217486.html|title= Gays In China: Beijing Queer Film Festival Goes Off Without A Hitch|last1= Tran|first1= Tini|date= June 18, 2009|website= The World Post|access-date= 30 January 2014|archive-date= 20 June 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090620092446/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/18/gays-in-china-beijing-que_n_217486.html|url-status= live}}</ref>

Multidisciplinary queer arts festivals include the [[Outburst Queer Arts Festival]] in Northern Ireland,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wild|first=Stephi|title=Outburst Queer Art Festival Announces 2021 Lineup|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/uk-regional/article/Outburst-Queer-Art-Festival-Announces-2021-Lineup-20211026|access-date=2021-10-26|website=BroadwayWorld.com|language=en|archive-date=2021-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026125152/https://www.broadwayworld.com/uk-regional/article/Outburst-Queer-Art-Festival-Announces-2021-Lineup-20211026|url-status=live}}</ref> the [[Queer Arts Festival]] in Canada,<ref>{{Cite web|title=CBC Vancouver sponsors Western Canada's largest queer arts event|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/community/vancouver-queer-film-festival-1.6099916|access-date=26 October 2021|website=CBC|archive-date=26 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026202200/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/community/vancouver-queer-film-festival-1.6099916|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[National Queer Arts Festival]] in the US.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-10-09|title="Each Garment Is Layered With Imagery That Is Queer…"|url=https://instinctmagazine.com/each-garment-is-layered-with-imagery-that-is-queer/|access-date=2021-10-26|website=Instinct Magazine|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-10-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022162839/https://instinctmagazine.com/each-garment-is-layered-with-imagery-that-is-queer/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Television shows that use ''queer'' in their titles include the UK series ''[[Queer as Folk (British TV series)|Queer as Folk]]''<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-10-26|title=Here's the First Pic of the New 'Queer As Folk' Cast Together|url=https://www.out.com/television/2021/10/26/heres-first-pic-new-queer-folk-cast-together|access-date=2021-10-26|website=www.out.com|language=en|archive-date=2021-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026185556/https://www.out.com/television/2021/10/26/heres-first-pic-new-queer-folk-cast-together|url-status=live}}</ref> and its American-Canadian [[Queer as Folk (American TV series)|remake of the same name]], ''[[Queer Eye (2003 TV series)|Queer Eye]]'',<ref>{{Cite web|last=White|first=Peter|date=2021-10-05|title='Queer Eye' Producer Scout Bolsters Exec Team With Promotions & Hires|url=https://deadline.com/2021/10/queer-eye-producer-scout-bolsters-exec-team-1234849953/|access-date=2021-10-26|website=Deadline|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026201230/https://deadline.com/2021/10/queer-eye-producer-scout-bolsters-exec-team-1234849953/|url-status=live}}</ref> and the cartoon ''[[Queer Duck]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fountain-Stokes|first=Lawrence La|title=Queer Ducks, Puerto Rican Patos, and Jewish American Feygelekh: Birds and the Cultural Representation of Homosexuality.|url=https://www.academia.edu/2502449|journal=CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies|date=January 2007|access-date=2021-10-26|archive-date=2022-06-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629084528/https://www.academia.edu/2502449|url-status=live}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Gay Shame]]
* [[Heterosexism]]
* [[Homophobia]]
* [[Queers (TV series)|''Queers'' (TV series)]]
* [[Sexual minority]]
* [[Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures]]
* [[Queerplatonic relationship]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== General bibliography ===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite news | last = Anon | title = Queercore | website = I-D Magazine | volume = 110 | issue = the Sexuality Issue | url = https://nothing-special.net/products/magazine-no-110-the-sexuality-issue-1992 | date = 1992 | access-date = 2018-01-14 | archive-date = 2018-01-14 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180114074048/https://nothing-special.net/products/magazine-no-110-the-sexuality-issue-1992 | url-status = dead }}
* {{cite book | last1 = Crimp | first1 = Douglas | last2 = Rolston | first2 = Adam | title = AIDS DemoGraphics | publisher = Seattle Bay Press | year = 1990 | isbn = 9780941920162 | url = https://archive.org/details/aidsdemographics00crim }}
* {{cite news | last = Kalin | first = Tom | title = Slant: Queer Nation | website = [[Artforum]] | pages = 21–23 | url = https://www.artforum.com/inprint/issue%3D199009%26id%3D33967 | date = November 1990 | access-date = 2018-01-14 | archive-date = 2018-01-14 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180114184019/https://www.artforum.com/inprint/issue%3D199009%26id%3D33967 | url-status = dead }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Sicurella |first=Federico Giulio |title=The approach that dares speak its name: queer and the problem of 'big nouns' in the language of academia |journal=[[Gender and Language]] |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=73–84 |doi=10.1558/genl.v10i1.20895 |year=2016 }}
* {{cite journal | last = Tucker | first = Scott | title = Gender, Fucking, and Utopia: An Essay in Response to John Stoltenberg's Refusing to Be a Man | journal = [[Social Text]] | volume = 27 | issue = 27 | pages = 3–34 | doi = 10.2307/466305 | date = 1990 | jstor = 466305 }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|queer}}
* [http://www.glbthistory.org The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society]

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