Queer… it’s just so queer

Originally posted at OutCarolinas.com

Why is Queer so…queer?
by Amanda Harris | OutCarolinas.com Contributor

Queer. What is it? Really? I can hardly think of a week that passes where I don’t explain Queer identity to somebody, and yet I am finding new ways to think of it now as I embark on a summer-long Queer research project in Prague, Czech Republic. You see, the Czechs have no word for Queer. If they use it, they just say it in English-mostly in the context of Queer studies or some other academic usage. But there is no Czech word for it. Why is this? What is it about the identity of Queer that makes it seemingly nontransferable in Eastern Europe? What is it about the Queer identity that still makes it confusing in America and elsewhere in the West? Why is Queer so… queer?

Let us first start by getting over the mental block that many have already put up after reading the first word of this piece. Queer… isn’t that derogatory? Or, “I don’t want to be called that, it’s ugly”… “it has been used in degrading ways in my past and present, and I want nothing to do with it.” So on and so on. I have heard countless reasons why Queers should forget Queer identity and stick with something more practical that everybody can understand. “Can’t you just call yourself a bisexual, Amanda?”

‘Fraid not. Because I am not. What many seem not to understand is that those who self-identify as Queer have often put much thought into claiming a Queer identity.

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Posted in Global, LGBT, LGBT Youth |