Queer Community

‘Queer’ is a tricky term to define. Because of its attachment to offensive slang, some 2SLGBTQA+ people dislike the term altogether, while other 2SLGBTQA+ people, particularly younger and urban 2SLGBTQA+ people have proudly embraced and reclaimed the term ‘queer.’ Sometimes ‘queer’ is used as an umbrella term for minority sexual orientations and gender identities or as a synonym for 2SLGBTQA+. Some trans people feel that the term ‘queer’ includes them; others do not. Some people use ‘queer’ as a way of identifying their non-heterosexual orientation yet avoiding the sometimes strict boundaries that surround lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans identities. ‘Queer’ can also signify one’s rejection of heteronormative sexual identities, normative gender constructions, or essentialist identity politics (1). In short, we recognize that the term ‘queer’ represents many identities and is often context dependent (i.e., what ‘queer’ means in academia is not always universal across disciplines).