This captured many of my frustrations around the word “queer” as well (I’m also a 35-yr old gay man). I live in Austin and frequently come across cisgender people who—from the outside—are in a standard male-female relationship but one of them will talk about their “queerness.” What does that mean? Is this person bi? Is this a mixed orientation marriage? Is this just a straight cisgender person who dresses quirky on occasion?
It’s also offensive to someone like me who grew up gay in the closet in a very conservative part of the country where gay people were constantly bullied. To lump that experience in with a cisgender person in a heterosexual marriage but calls themselves “queer” because it’s trendy is aggravating.
Ironically, making every minority person a part of LGBTQI+- seems to be reinforcing the same sort of logic inherent in heteronormative thinking: dualistic thinking.
For sure - it flattens and dilutes the specificities of each group. What I find most funny is when an individual person is referred to as “LGBTQ+” as though it’s possible to be all of these at once haha
This captured many of my frustrations around the word “queer” as well (I’m also a 35-yr old gay man). I live in Austin and frequently come across cisgender people who—from the outside—are in a standard male-female relationship but one of them will talk about their “queerness.” What does that mean? Is this person bi? Is this a mixed orientation marriage? Is this just a straight cisgender person who dresses quirky on occasion?
It’s also offensive to someone like me who grew up gay in the closet in a very conservative part of the country where gay people were constantly bullied. To lump that experience in with a cisgender person in a heterosexual marriage but calls themselves “queer” because it’s trendy is aggravating.
Ironically, making every minority person a part of LGBTQI+- seems to be reinforcing the same sort of logic inherent in heteronormative thinking: dualistic thinking.
For sure - it flattens and dilutes the specificities of each group. What I find most funny is when an individual person is referred to as “LGBTQ+” as though it’s possible to be all of these at once haha
Never actually thought about the individual "being all of them at once" but that's a sharp observation
Is that an intercontinental ballistic missile in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?
Both tbh x