Every couple of weeks, us Gaelickers will engage in a heated debate about some extremely pertinent topic. Afterwards we kick the shite out of each other.

HAL:
I use the word ‘queer’ to describe all manner of rainbow-bright peeps. Is it offensive>

Slayer:
I hate the word queer but I know a lot of people embrace it despite how awful it sounds…

Orange:
It really is a word that polarises lgbt folks. Some embrace it as a catchall description of themselves (as opposed to shoehorning into L, G, B or T) and while for others it holds no water or is outright offensive. I was in Vancouver, Canada recently during the city’s LGBT film festival which is called the “Vancouver Queer Film Festival” and as a term it was embraced by all who attended.

Click Here:
think the word “queer” is a double-edged sword: it has deeply negative connotations associated with it and its history as a term of abuse against LGBT people; at the same time, however, there may be a case to be made to take the power out of the word by “re-claiming” it as ours.

Personally, I’m in favour of the latter, so that (for example) if someone calls me a queer (or, equally, snarls “dyke” at me, as happened one night on Grafton Street), I’ll hope to throw it back at them, and say, “Yes, Sherlock, and what of it?”

I think that the word “queer”, as a pejorative term, can be thrown at us with the same level of abuse and intent as the word “gay” or “lesbian” or “homosexual”, which are in fact descriptive terms.

Annie Aura:
I think the first time I encountered the word was when reading Enid Blton as a child! Everything was “queer” or “rather queer”.

I can’t say I’ve ever been called queer (and it’s not a term I would readily use myself) but when I hear it I just think of Quentin Crisp smoking outside a Parisian cafe. I associate it with art galleries and philosophical debate. Students with long scarves smoking pencil thin cigarettes at Oxford.

HAL:
I think it’s a great word! For one thing, as Oraiste said, it clears up the whole lgbt thing. I hate lgbt, it sounds like a sandwich (lettuce guac bacon and tomato please). I can’t stand the efficient labelling it implies. Queer covers it all. I covers the lgb and ts as well as those who don’t identify as any of those things but who have sex with people of the same gender/opposite gender/both.

It’s also a very powerful word. Politically and socially. “Yeah I’m queer”, reclaiming it is a powerful statement.

I’m interested though – why do people not like it? Is it because by using the word, we are saying “yeah I know, we’re different”, when really we’re not? Or is it because of the offensive use it has, and can still have, by idiots on the streets?

Gooner:
For me it’s not the word, it’s how it’s meant. Someone can use a PC word but you know from their tone they’re being negative. If someone uses a word to communicate something, with no conitations meant, then I have no problem with it.

HAL:
I agree. However, if someone shouted “Paddy!” at you and meant it as an insult, you’d laugh. Not if they shouted “Queer!”. So it’s also the word they use.

Gooner:
I’d be annoyed if someone shouted Paady at me and meant it as a joke. I’d be pissed of if someone called me gorgeous and meant it as a joke. For me it’s about what they are communicating, not the words they use.

Please let us know your thoughts on this topic in the comments below – all views welcome!

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