Is Queer a derogatory term?

[magomago]

I thought it was. While watching this video , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUGu-Wxg_9w , at 6 minutes, the guy goes "...I'm Queer" and I went WTF because I thought it was a negative. Which one is the derogatory term? Queer? Homosexual? Gay?

 

[shortylickens]

No.
But lovely human jew beautiful being might be.

 

[Crono]

Queer just means wierd

I don't think most homosexuals find it derogatory, but I think it's past use was mostly used in a stereotypical way.

I'm not an expert on homosexual terminology or culture though.

 

[Tristicus]

You're a queer.

 

[MAKENITO]

I think it is..

 

[Locut0s]

Most gay men/women use it as a hipper way of saying "gay". They speak of the queer community etc... Some of this may depend on the part of the country / continent you are from as well. Of course any of them can be used in a derogatory context. Usually the derogatory word people use if i love you, lovely human and others.

 

[guyver01]

Depends ... like everything else.

Two gay guys can call each other queer without issue.
One straight guy calls someone Queer, it's gay-bashing.

Same with a certain N-word.

Two african-americans can call each other the word all day.
One white guy calls an african-american the N-word... and it's a civil rights violation.

 

[frostedflakes]

queer
   /kwɪər/ Show Spelled [kweer] Show IPA adjective,-er, -est, verb, noun
–adjective
1.
strange or odd from a conventional viewpoint; unusually different; singular: a queer notion of justice.
2.
of a questionable nature or character; suspicious; shady: Something queer about the language of the prospectus kept investors away.
3.
not feeling physically right or well; giddy, faint, or qualmish: to feel queer.
4.
mentally unbalanced or deranged.
5.
Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.
a.
homosexual.
b.
effeminate; unmanly.
6.
Slang. bad, worthless, or counterfeit.
–verb (used with object)
7.
to spoil; ruin.
8.
to put (a person) in a hopeless or disadvantageous situation as to success, favor, etc.
9.
to jeopardize.
–noun
10.
Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a homosexual, esp. a male homosexual.
11.
Slang. counterfeit money.
—Idiom
12.
queer the pitch, British Informal. to spoil the chances of success.

Depends on the context, it can mean strange/weird, queer meaning gay is actually slang, not the proper definition. Watched the video and the guy is using it to refer to his sexual orientation I'd assume. No idea how gays feel about the word, whether they find it offensive or not.

 

[Necrolezbeast]

I think 'i love you' is the bad one... but I'm no expert

 

[TheVrolok]

From what I understand, it now means "gay." A gay person can call another gay person "queer," but if a straight person uses it it's derogatory. Pisses me off, because I used to use the word fairly frequently for.. you know, it's legit definition.

 

[MAKENITO]

Depends ... like everything else.

Two gay guys can call each other queer without issue.
One straight guy calls someone Queer, it's gay-bashing.

Same with a certain N-word.

Two african-americans can call each other the word all day.
One white guy calls an african-american the N-word... and it's a civil rights violation.

I was actually thinking the same thing - with the same example.. but couldnt come up with a nice way of describing it, so I left it. Thats all.

 

[guyver01]

I was actually thinking the same thing - with the same example.. but couldnt come up with a nice way of describing it, so I left it. Thats all.

well see... great minds think alike

 

[AreaCode707]

As I understand it, queer was in fashion as a slang term for homosexual before 'gay' was. So it was common use and not necessarily offensive for a while, much as the n-word was, and then it became generally derogatory, then was reclaimed by the community but remains off-limits to people outside of the community because it is most often perceived as used in a negative fashion in that context.

 

[Locut0s]

As I understand it, queer was in fashion as a slang term for homosexual before 'gay' was. So it was common use and not necessarily offensive for a while, much as the n-word was, and then it became generally derogatory, then was reclaimed by the community but remains off-limits to people outside of the community because it is most often perceived as used in a negative fashion in that context.

This.

My first post above makes it sound more like a generally used term but the more that I think of it the more I come to your conclusion here.

 

[hellfreeze]

There's actually a "queer theory." If you take any Sociology classes covering feminism this will come up. It came up in my Sociology class but I forget the name of the author.

 

[hellfreeze]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queer_theory

 

[hellfreeze]

Ok I got curious so I looked it up in my book. The author is Judith Butler. You can find her writings on page 226 of "Bodies That Matter: On The Discursive Limits of 'Sex'."

Essentially it talks about how queer was initially used for homosexuals and drag queens, but it can also encompass those who are sympathetic towards homosexuals and drag queens.

 

[AndroidVageta]

i love you and lovely human are the gays great person. Queer is not a bad thing to call them, so may not like it though, but over all its nothing bad.

 

[midnight growler]

As a real-life gay person, queer is reemerging as a kind of blanket term for all the different variations of "gay." Rather than go through the entire alphabet of gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender-questioning, it helps to just shorten it down to queer, as a "we're all kinda in this boat together" sort of way. Its also helping on an individual level for those that are caught up in so many labels (gay, bi, bi-curious, top, bottom, butch, fem, dominate, etc). As much as I hate to say it, gay people are caught up with labels and to simply go with queer allows one to ditch all the drama with labels and go with a simple term.

Queer can also express concepts that are outside of just sexuality to gender and gender roles in society.

While a lot of younger people are open to this word, for older people, the word still is coupled with the hate and intolerance of the 50s and 60s. Understandably its a lot tougher to remove the stigmata tied to that word. Somehow I think I should mention the South Park episode "The F Word" here.

 

[lxskllr]

I use the term queer. It has better flow than homosexual, and I find the hijacking of the word gay mildly irritating.

 

[Perknose]

As I understand it, queer was in fashion as a slang term for homosexual before 'gay' was. So it was common use and not necessarily offensive for a while, much as the n-word was, and then it became generally derogatory, then was reclaimed by the community but remains off-limits to people outside of the community because it is most often perceived as used in a negative fashion in that context.

Queer was the most common slang term for a homosexual before gay was, but it was never "not necessarily offensive for awhile" and neither, fer crissakes, was n!gger.

Both were always meant in a highly derogatory fashion, from the start!

And, yes, both have been reclaimed by their respective communities for internal use, but, as pointed out in a latter post, queer is starting to be accepted by the younger and/or hipper in the queer community as a generally allowable term for all to use,, whereas n!gger is not.

This is perhaps because, however poorly we treated the gays amongst us, we seldom publicly lynched them and almost never bought and sold them as property.

 

[Sea Moose]

I think 'i love you' is the bad one... but I'm no expert

I go banned from atot for a week for calling Mike Gayner this word

 

[guyver01]

I go banned from atot for a week for calling Mike Gayner this word

you called him a cigarette?

 

[Sea Moose]

you called him a cigarette?

yes sir

 

[edro]

I love how terms become derogatory but they never come back on the market as non-offensive.

Pretty soon all the cool words will be taken, just like domain names.

By the way, I am standing my ground with "retard". I will never let those bleeding hearts take that word from me.
I will be 100 years old in the nursing home saying "retard".