Queer 101
By Kenny & Maureen
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Origin of queer
Historical uses of the word
The queer identity
A little queer history lesson
A little sociology lesson
Queer as a verb
Discussion
• Scottish: “strange,
peculiar, eccentric”
• Low German: “oblique,
off-center”
• German” quer “oblique,
perverse, odd”
• Old High German: from
PIE root twerk “to turn,
twist, wind”
• Historically used to
describe someone
different, who exhibits
behavior deemed
socially inappropriate
• Early 20th century: gay
men in NYC began using
it as a code word
• Became synonym for
immoral, perverted,
subversive
• Throughout the 20th
century, it transformed
into a derogatory term
• Only directed to men in
receptive/passive roles
in sex
– Men who had the
active/penetrative roles
were still perceived as
straight
• 1969: anarchist, pacifist
author Paul Goodman
published The Politics of
Being Queer
– Influential in mainstream gay
movement as well as the queer
movement
• 1990: survivors of queer
bashing formed Queer
Nation
– Anti-assimilation, direct action
activist organization
– “We’re here, we’re queer, get
used to it!”
• 1990s: introduction of queer
theory in academia
• All-encompassing term for
the LGBTQIA community
• An identity
• Radical queer separatist
movement
• General term for a nonnormative, nonconforming
individual
• Used by people who don’t
identify with any of the
‘traditional’ LGBTQIA identities or
dominant norms
• “Queer” as the gray area in
between the black & white boxes
of LGBTQIA
• Queer as a statement of fluidity
• Used by people attracted to
many genders, within and outside
of the gender binary
• Used by radicals as an antiassimilationist identity
• Queer Identity
Embraced By LGBT
Community
• Kenny’s Story
• Maureen’s Story
• After the Stonewall
Riots, the radical,
anarchist Gay
Liberation movement
followed until the mid70s
• Mid-70s to present: gay
Rights movement
– Reformist
– Assimilationist
• Gay rights movement focuses
on normalizing the gay &
lesbian identities, assimilating
into heteronormative society
– Criticized for bi, trans*,
genderqueer exclusion
– Criticized for lack of
intersectionality
– Current focus: marriage rights
• Radical queers challenge
mainstream gay politics, use
the queer identity as antiassimilationist political
statement
• “Queer” as a form of
resistance against
normalization
• Essentialist
– Born with sexual desire for
same sex or opposite
– Gender & sex always match
• Constructionist
– Born with undirected sex drive,
shaped by experiences
– Fit into either man or woman
gender box, regardless of sex
• Postmodern
– “Boxes” of essentialism and
constructioinism are confining,
oppressive
– Sexuality & gender are fluid
identities that exist on spectra
• “To queer something, whether it’s a text, a story, or an
identity, is to take a look at its foundations and question
them. We can explore its limits, its biases, and its
boundaries. We can look for places where there’s elasticity
or discover ways we can transform it into something new. To
queer is to examine our assumptions and decide which of
them we want to keep, change, discard, or play with. This
becomes a practice in transcending the habit of settling for
pre-defined categories and creating new ones. And even
when we leave something unchanged, we have changed
our relationship to it.” –Charlie Glickman
• Can a straight person be considered queer?
• How can we make LGBTQIA-designated spaces
queer-inclusive?
• What are some things we can queer?
• What are some ways you queer your lives or
ways of thinking?