What 'Being Queer' Really Means Today

So my dear friends, queer has gone from being a slur to an identifier of personal pride and safety. But many, from celebrities to college students, are still strongly divided over another, more important piece of the information pie: what does it mean to be "queer" ?

It’s an interesting and loaded term, to say the least. For many of us who grew up in the 1980s and ‘90s, being queer meant being someone who was a danger to society at large. It meant your one goal or gift was to seduce and be ogled (the horror!). It often came with “too” in front of it: a “too queer” jockstrap stopped boys from being able to focus in school (how dare we!?), and a man who was “too queer” was a danger to all men everywhere. What a load of bullsh*t, huh?

In recent years, there has been an uptick in young people using the word queer as both an identity and as an umbrella term for all things LGBTQ+. At the same time, others have come forward to say that them reclaiming the word is problematic for those of us who are older and use the word for different reasons.

The word “queer” has been used for so many different purposes, it’s almost polarizing in its ambiguity. For some, it can be a slur; for others, an identity or a term of pride. For my entire teenage life and young adult years, I was too scared to even use the word. Too scared to say “queer” out loud.

But we live in a different time now; a time when queer culture is more visible than ever before.

Queer people are on television and in movies, winning awards and being celebrated by the masses. “Queerness” is having a mainstream moment — but what exactly does that mean?

The word “queer” has been used as a slur. It’s been reclaimed and redefined and politicized. It’s been used to describe sexual identity, gender identity and political identity. It’s been embraced by some and shunned by others.

Today, the term is often used as an umbrella for anyone who identifies as non-heterosexual, non-cisgender or does not adhere to conventional gender roles. But there are still people who think it’s offensive or don’t identify with it.

The word queer was used to imply that someone was strange, odd, or just not like everyone else. It has a history of being used in a derogatory way to describe gay people, especially men. It was thought of as an insult and could be used to bully other people.

The queer community started using the word in the 1980s as a type of protest against the idea that they were wrong, bad, or not normal. By using the word themselves and taking away its power, they attempted to change the way people viewed them. They also wanted others to know that being LGBTQ+ wasn’t something to be ashamed about — rather, it was something to be proud of!

Nowadays, you can find people using queer in all kinds of ways—from celebrities like Miley Cyrus to people on your own campus who attend liberal arts colleges. In fact, LGBTQIA+ college students are more likely to identify as queer than they are just gay or lesbian. So what does it mean? Well…

Being queer is personal. The way that I queer is different than the way you queer... and even if we both queered the same way, we would still interpret what it means to be queer differently. To sum up all of the possible definitions, being queer means you reject societal standards around gender and sexuality—but in a non-confrontational way.