The word ‘queer’ is intrinsically linked to the LGBTQ+ community – it’s right there in the name. However, the way the word is used and received by some people is complicated.
While many of us are proud to be queer, and have reclaimed the slur, some people are staunch in their views that ‘queer’ is offensive and struggle, or refuse, to accept it.
Most recently, the debate was reignited on Sunday (8 January) after Owen Hurcum, the non-binary former mayor of Welsh city Bangor, tweeted in support of reclaiming the word – getting more than 15,000 likes and over 1200 retweets in just over a day. The day prior, another Twitter user had separately tweeted “quit calling gay people queer, we don’t like it”, which also gained a lot of online support – but many responses from people refuting the claim.
I've seen it said before but it's worth repeating, most of the "Stop calling Gay people Queer" people are from an older demographic who don't realise most people my age and younger were bullied not with the word "queer" but the word "gay"…
— Owen J Hurcum
(@OwenJHurcum) January 8, 2023
(@OwenJHurcum) How did “queer” become a slur?
It’s thought ‘queer’ was first used in relation to identity during the trial of Irish writer Oscar Wilde, where he was jailed for homosexual acts. As explained in a blog by the UK National Archives, a letter from the Marquis of Queensberry, used in Wilde’s 1895 trial, detailed his disgust at Wilde’s relationship with his son.
He called Wilde and other homosexual men “Snob Queers”. It’s noted it was about another 20 years before ‘queer’ was used as a common derogatory word about homosexuals. As a slur, it became an umbrella term for the LGBTQ+ community, and it is one many people have had used as a word of abuse against them, and their identity.