“When a lot of lesbians and gay men wake up in the morning we feel angry and disgusted, not gay.
The comprehensive text highlighted queer bashing, institutionalised discrimination and the countless lives lost at the hands of the AIDs virus, arguing that ‘gay’ as a term wasn’t strong enough. Queer Nation explained their intentions behind the reclamation in a leaflet entitled ‘ QUEERS READ THIS’, passed out at 1990’s New York Pride. The former insult was worn as a badge of honour not only did it become a definitive symbol of anarchy and rebellion, it became the ultimate linguistic ‘fuck you’ to homophobia. A combination of these factors meant that the early 90s can be pinpointed as the decade in which ‘queer’ was radically reclaimed. Jones were hard at work on J.D.s, a cult publication which housed creative expressions of queerness and coined ‘queercore’ to describe queer punk music. Activists joined forces in the late 80s and early 90s to form organisations such as Queer Nation, a group whose provocative slogans sought to eradicate hate crime around the same time, Bruce LaBruce and G.B. Protests would erupt with little warning, flooding the streets with queer punks declaring “We’re here, we’re queer, we will not live in fear” – a rallying cry which echoed poignantly throughout Soho just weeks ago in Orlando’s devastating aftermath. ‘Queer’ was later reclaimed in the midst of the Aids epidemic and quickly became a symbol of anarchy. Its original definitions still remained ingrained within language, but the word’s reputation took a downhill slide and slowly but surely became intrinsically linked with hate speech and homophobia.īECOMING IMBUED WITH THE SPIRIT OF ANARCHY Back in Britain, however, the Oxford Dictionary differentiated between using it as an adjective and a verb – even now, it seems pointless to highlight that calling someone ‘a queer’ sounds more offensive than using it as an adjective. Interestingly, it was most frequently used to specifically attack effeminate gay men. It was throughout this court case that the original letter surfaced – Douglas had used ‘Snob Queers’ as a descriptor for gay men, establishing ‘queer’’s reputation as a gay slur.Īmerican newspapers used ‘queer’ as a derogatory term almost immediately, using it to highlight the fact that homosexuality was strange and abnormal. He achieved his mission, launching a lengthy court case which argued the iconic playwright was a sodomy-obsessed old man that lured gay prostitutes into a lifestyle of degeneracy. Douglas had discovered his son was embroiled in a gay relationship with Oscar Wilde he became concerned at the potential of a gay sex scandal and immediately set out to prosecute Wilde in any way possible. John Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry (yes, that’s seriously his title) gave us the first recorded written example of queer as a slur back in 1894. ‘Queer’ has been decried, reclaimed and decried once again over the last few centuries is it still – and should it be – a dirty word? ORIGINS OF ‘QUEER’ AS A SLUR Its original meaning was ‘strange’ or ‘peculiar’ – hence the idiom “there’s nowt so queer as folk”. Now, however, it’s more commonly used to describe non-normative identities with regards to both gender and sexuality it’s an umbrella term used to define a spectrum of marginalised identities ranging from cis white gay men to asexual non-binary black individuals. Still, many remain reluctant to classify themselves as queer or discuss queer identities due to the word’s chequered history. This isn’t, of course, the truth, and I learned this later in life – as I grew older I discovered queercore, queer theory and shows like Queer as Folk which introduced me to broader context. The origins of the word itself are dubious but what we know for sure is that ‘queer’ first entered the English language in the 16th century. I understood it as a word designed to make me ashamed not only of my homosexuality but of my voice, my appearance and my behaviour I grew up believing that ‘queer’ was a term used only to express hatred, anger and prejudice. It’s a word that was shouted angrily at me on the street, a mark of disrespect used to goad me into arguments in nightclubs and, most frequently, a term spat in disgust whenever I indulged in public displays of affection. It’s a term I encountered occasionally throughout my adolescence, always as an insult, a slur.
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