I, a straight person, have a question. I'm talking about homophobia in a draft blog piece, and what’s a good choice of word for the people that homophobes dislike and abuse? Has it got to the point where “queer” is respectful and appropriate? Is “LGBTQ” better? “Gender-diverse”? (I think I’m correct to think that “homophobe” has grown to include anti-trans and gender-related bigotries generally?) Who has written a really good essay on the subject? Thanks in advance.
I'm straight, and I think Queer has not reached the point that straight people can quite use it yet.
LGBTQIA+ is safer.
@unicorndeburgh @timbray This isn’t an answer to the original question, but my own position on this, fwiw, is that queer is generally fine used as an adjective by anyone who isn’t being a jerk but I don’t want to see it as a noun in writing from a straight person pretty much ever. “Queers” spoken out loud by a straight person has me taking off my earrings.
D'oh, obvious once pointed out. Thks.