Look I Call Myself Queer For A Couple Of Reasons, Not All Immediately Obvious To The "queer Is A Slur"

look i call myself queer for a couple of reasons, not all immediately obvious to the "queer is a slur" crowd.

like there's the immediate implication of this does not require me to explain my labels to you, but also the secondary implication of my existence as a radical statement. when queer people started calling themselves queer, it was an act of public defiance and rebellion.

queer says I don't need to justify myself to you or anyone, queer says I exist and I won't shut up about it, queer says we are a community and you cannot draw arbitrary dividing lines between us. queer is a good word for queer people.

when I find people who call themselves queer, I know they are the ones who won't try to say anyone doesn't belong in our community, that they will defend gay rights with trans rights, that they will stand up against the oppression that we all face, even if it doesn't affect them directly.

so yeah, i love being queer, calling myself queer, talking about the queer community, queer studies and queer theory and queer history. and I'm not going to stop because some of you think it's a slur.