If you follow, even "at a distance", the LGBTQIA+ movement, you have noticed that this acronym, which used to be just LGBT, has gained new letters, with the aim of including more diversity and other types of manifestation of gender and sexual orientation. One of these definitions included more recently is the word "queer".

But what does "queer" mean and what is a queer person? We have prepared an article to clear up all your doubts and clarify once and for all what this term means!

What does queer mean?

The word "queer" comes from the English language and, in its literal translation, means something like "weird", "eccentric", "strange" or "peculiar". This is not a new expression in the English language, as it has been used for at least 600 years, according to scholars of the language.

The "novelty" is that this word began to be used, since the mid-1920s, to refer in a pejorative way to homosexual people, just as we have in the Portuguese language offensive terms to gays and lesbians, such as "bicha", "viado", "boiola" or "sapatão", which more recently have been appropriated by LGBTQIA+ themselves to deconstruct prejudice, but that for a long time were offensiveto homosexuals.

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Researchers of LGBTQIA+ issues claim that, although it "stuck" more to homosexual people, the word "queer" was used to offend anyone who was not heterosexual and cisgender (person who identifies with the identical gender as their sex). Therefore transsexual, bisexual, transvestite, drag queens, asexual people, among many other possibilities, were offended with the use of"queer."

Appropriation of the word "queer

It may be a little difficult to understand the use of the term "queer" and its offensive charge, since it comes from the English language and is not part of everyday life in Brazil. In a comparison, for illustrative purposes only, it is like the American expression "nigga", used at the time of slavery in the United States to refer in a pejorative way to enslaved black people.

For a long time, both words were offensive - "queer" for homosexuals, "nigga" for blacks. But nowadays they are being subverted and used by these people as a way to stop the offense and show pride for being who they are.passage) and assumed this nickname, in order to make the joke not funny? That's kind of it.

Today, therefore, people who are not heterosexual and/or cisgendered use this term with pride to refer to themselves, instead of considering it an offense. A good example of this is the name of the Queer Nation collective, an important association that fights for rights for LGBTQIA+ people around the world.

Queer Theory

For many years, any manifestation of sexuality or gender identity that did not involve heterosexuality and cisgenderism was considered queer, that is, something strange, since the "normal" thing was supposed to be heterosexual and follow the gender assigned to the person at birth.

Anna Shvets / Pexels

It is important to note that, until the 1990s, homosexuality (at the time, rather called "homosexuality," as a disease) was considered by many people to be a pathology, including by federal psychology councils and even by the World Health Organization (WHO), which only removed it from its list of diseases in 1990 (!).

And this happened because of pressure from the LGBTQIA+ movements of the time. It was in that decade and at the end of the last decade, between 1980 and 1990, that what became known as Queer Theory emerged, a movement of groups, thinkers and scientists who began to study definitions and trends of LGBTQIA+ groups, expanding the knowledge about this theme and demystifying many of the prejudices that existed at the time.time.

Is Queer a Genre?

Roughly speaking, it is not, but it is being used informally to define a type of gender identity known as genderfluid or genderqueer. The people who call themselves genderqueer choose this word to refer to a gender identity that is not defined and exact. That is why the word "fluid" is used, i.e., someone who does not consider themselves to be 100% man or 100% woman.Both "transgender" and "non-binary" are "umbrella terms" that represent a myriad of different types of gender identity that diverge from the traditional definitions of male and female genders.

There is even a flag created by people in the queer movement. It has three stripes, each with a color: lavender, which refers to androgynous people; white, in reference to agender people; and green, which represents people of non-binary genders - that is, people who do not feel completely comfortable with traditional definitions of the masculine or feminine genders, such as the aforementioned cases ofgenderfluid, pangender, etc.

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There is also a flag used for and by people who consider themselves non-binary, created by Kye Rowan, a young LGBTQIA+ activist. The flag has four equal-sized horizontal stripes, each with a color: yellow, in reference to those who are outside the gender binary concept; white, for people who are of many genders; purple, as a reference to the fluidity and diversity ofgender experiences; and black, in reference to agender people.

Eternal Deconstruction

As you can see, the definition of "queer" is relatively recent, since it has been built up for "only" 40 years. And the most important thing, when the subject is LGBTQIA+, is to keep in mind that this subject has been explored more in the last four decades. So changes in terms and definitions are quite common.

This is what Professor Leandro Colling, Queer Studies researcher at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), explained in an interview to IG's Queer portal: "Our ways of dealing with sexuality and gender vary over time. 15 years ago, we academics, and also many transgender people, said that trans, transvestite, and transsexual identities were variations of homosexuality.Today the social movement understands that trans identities are variations of cisgender identities."

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Because it is a fluid term, without such an exact definition, therefore, "queer" has been used as an umbrella for people who manifest their sexuality or their gender in less exact ways.

So, what do you think about the use of the word "queer"? It is important to put on record that, regardless of labels, what is essential is that a person live their sexuality and their gender definition fully, rather than caring about this or that expression, unless, of course, they are concerned with defining themselves. Live your sexuality fully!