The Salt Lake Tribune
I could see Troy Williams' comparisons between gays seeking acceptance from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a battered wife returning to her abusive husband ("Abuse and restitution," Forum, April 17), but his reference to the "queer" community disturbed me.
Since "queer" has traditionally been a derogatory term, why have Williams and other gays and lesbians adopted it?
Straights like me find it offensive.
It reminds me of African Americans who use the n-word. Adopting a derogatory term is not healthy, nor does it help one's cause.
The current civil rights issue is gay and lesbian equal rights - to enjoy loving, committed relationships and to live without fear.
When gays and lesbians use "queer" to shock and disturb straight listeners, that reflects an immature teenage mentality that gays need to grow beyond in order to find an equal place in society.
I am not interested in parades with floats of muscle-bound gay men in Speedos any more than I support floats with heterosexual women in bikinis.
The gay community needs to act with maturity and dignity as it fights for equal rights.
That will lead to more respect and support than will attempts to shock.
Paul Fisher
Pleasant Grove
original article
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Public Forum: Man upset over use of the word "queer"
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2 comments:
I agree in part for until we as the LBBT community show a mark of maturity we will always be pegged as deviant. Please note all the gay porn hooked up to many blogs and the preoccupation with gay male sex that if we are honest is a daily reality for many gay men. As well if the gay community just shows that we are like one of them families, community, work, etc this will speak volumes to those that always define us as other.
But I do not mind using the word queer for I am rather odd, weird and do not follow the norms of society. I have not pegged myself queer and when I hear it it usually is coming from someone younger and more involved in activism.
I think the majority of us are "just like one of them families".
The problem is at least two fold; that majority are less visible then the minority. Secondly we are oppressed due to others' perception of our sexual activities. Is it really any wonder we are very sexual?
Not to mention many of us repressed our sexuality for many years. So we often bust the closet doors and come out running, ready to make up for lost time.
Soceity forces us to repress our natural sexual feelings and then they yell when we finally act on them. Evidently they really think we will repress those feelings our whole life. Sadly, there are those that try and many commit suicide.
The straights aren't any better. They are simply more "prudish".
By the original writers tone one can almost wonder if he's calling black people out for having the "n-word". In other words, this person has some personal bias' he needs to deal with.
It's obvious, this is one persons biased opinion. It's a "politically correct" way of saying "stay in the closet".
Us using the word queer is no worse then them using the word normal!
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