Hello!
I am new here, and new to the LGBT community in general. Around 6-7 weeks ago I realized I was trans(htf do you make it to 30 and not realize?)
In talking to my therapist, they said they(belonging to the community themselves) like to use queer as shorthand since it includes everyone and isn’t an unending acronym that is constantly getting new letters. I also like that and would use it, but being new, I’m not sure how others who’ve been here longer feel.
Are they equivalent?
I don’t like how the acronym keeps changing and accidentally leaving out a letter could be taken as an intentional slight.
Where I grew up ‘queer’ was used as an insult. But I use ‘queer’ to self-identify, and like you say it’s a catch-all for everything under the umbrella.
Context matters, I think. If someone’s talking about the queer community, it seems okay. If someone says, “You’re one of them queers, aintcha?” then it’s probably not okay.
At the end of the day, I guess I’ve always thought of it as a slur that we’ve taken back, y’know?
I love that some groups have been able to do that! I know I’ve heard of others, but I can’t recall at the moment.
It really is brave for the first generation to do that. I can’t imagine.