Tonight I was on the receiving end of something rather hurtful that we talk about on Tumblr a lot: erasure.
Someone in a group chat I was in decided the acronym should be LGBTIA+, and was offering pride icons to the group. I said “I’m not any of those, I’m the Q,” and was told how they personally find that word uncomfortable so they left it out and used a plus sign instead.
Let me repeat that: my identity, the thing I have called myself since 2008, made them “uncomfortable,” so they just straight up removed it from the acronym and represented me with a goddamn plus sign.
So I’m done.
Don’t call me lesbian .Don’t call me wlw. CALL ME QUEER, IT’S WHAT I AM. Straight people, this goes for you too. You have my personal, this-directly-affects-me permission to call me Queer. My personal, this-directly-affects-me request, in fact. If you aren’t sure, the correct usage is the same format as any other part of the acronym: “Nina is Queer,” “Nina is a Queer woman,” “are you Queer?” I don’t really care personally if you capitalize it in casual use, but in official use I’ve never seen it uncapitalized (probably to differentiate it from the “well, isn’t that queer” usage).
PLEASE DO NOT LET A FEW SALTY TERFS PARROTING Q-SLUR BULLSHIT DESTROY MY IDENTITY. Queer is hated among that subset because it isn’t just a personal identity–it is a warm and welcoming umbrella that includes aces, trans folks, and nonbinary people. Not sure what you want to call yourself? It’s okay, the Queer community is still here for you. They HATE that and they’re trying to tear it down.
A final note: if you tag this post as “q slur,” you’re going to find yourself blocked in very short order. MY IDENTITY IS NOT A SLUR AND I REFUSE TO SEE IT TREATED THAT WAY ANY LONGER.
*also waves queer flag*
Please, call me Queer.
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There's a Mirror on the Wall 