queer
Off the norm
Queer originally meant strange, odd, or peculiar: a queer feeling, a queer coincidence.
By the early 20th century, it became a slur for homosexuals—a word shouted from passing cars and wielded to wound.
Beginning in the 1980s, activists reclaimed queer as an umbrella term for non-heterosexual and non-cisgender identities, embracing its outsider energy: queer theory, queer studies, the queer community.
Today queer is widely used with pride, but not universally—some older LGBTQ people who remember it only as a slur still find it painful.
Context and speaker matter.
Attracted to same gender
- lesbianWoman desiring women
- gayAttracted to same sex
- bisexualAttracted to multiple genders
- transgenderGender differs from assignment
pansexual · asexual · intersex · nonbinary · genderqueer · genderfluid · same-sex · coming-out
Venue for formal dances
- voguingStylized pose-based dancing
- dragResistance through fluid
- leatherTanned animal skin
- kinkTight twisted spot
zine · underground · scene · nightlife · pageant · reading · shade · realness
Strangely unusual
- strangeUnusual or unfamiliar
- unusualNot often encountered
- bizarreStrikingly unconventional
- eccentricUnconventional in character
quirky · outlandish · abnormal · anomalous · unconventional · weird · freakish · idiosyncratic
Ceremonial public procession
- celebrationFestive event marking occasion
- marchRhythmic group walk
- visibilityRange of clear sight
- solidarityUnity among allies
equality · acceptance · liberation · empowerment · Stonewall · activism · rights · resistance
Relating to education or theory
- poststructuralistTheorist rejecting stable meaning
- heteronormativityAssumed universal straightness
- deconstructionAnalysis exposing self-contradiction
- discourseFormal communication on subjects
transgression · subversion · intersectionality · epistemology · binary · essentialism
homosexual
Attracted to same gender
transgender · pansexual · asexual · intersex · nonbinary · genderqueer · genderfluid · same-sex · coming-out · closeted
ballroom
Venue for formal dances
kink · zine · underground · scene · nightlife · pageant · reading · shade · realness · category
peculiar
Strangely unusual
eccentric · quirky · outlandish · abnormal · anomalous · unconventional · weird · freakish · idiosyncratic · unorthodox
parade
Ceremonial public procession
- celebrationFestive event marking occasion
- marchRhythmic group walk
- visibilityRange of clear sight
solidarity · equality · acceptance · liberation · empowerment · Stonewall · activism · rights · resistance · awareness
academic
Relating to education or theory
- poststructuralistTheorist rejecting stable meaning
- heteronormativityAssumed universal straightness
- deconstructionAnalysis exposing self-contradiction
discourse · transgression · subversion · intersectionality · epistemology · binary · essentialism
fag
British cigarette slang
fairy · pansy · poof · fruit · nance · flamer · lesbo · swish · reclaimed · pejorative
spoil
Damage or overindulge
jeopardize · undermine · sabotage · thwart · compromise · bungle · derail
- Queer Culturegay, drag culture, lesbian, bisexual, transgender
- queer identitiesasexual, gay men, bisexual, lesbians, pansexual
- identityidentity, personal identity, self, selfhood, self-expression
- Q wordsquack, quail, quake, quality, quantity
- LGBTQgay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary
- LGBTQ+gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary
queerstraight
Not curved or crooked
heterosexual · cisgender · cis · cishet · heteronormative
- queer communitySexual and gender minorities collectively
- queer identityNon-normative sexual or gender selfhood
- queer cultureLGBTQ+ collective identity
- queer bashingViolence against LGBT people
- queer romanceLGBTQ+ romantic relationship
- queer representationDepicting non-heterosexual identities in media
queerly, queers, queered, queerness, queerest, queering, queerer, queer theory, queerbaiting