I Really Don’t Care What You Call Me (And Other Short Takes)

Can the teenagers who keep policing the LGBT community start going after the needlessly sensitive at least a tenth as hard as they go after people with labels that sound kind of weird? A 1/13/2023 article from The Guardian with the headline “Please don’t use the Q-word” reminds me that these people exist, and I’m honestly sick of them. I can’t help but notice that we’ve heard for years that misgendering transgender people is “just words” by the people who are now holding a massive crusade against the word queer, but even if it wasn’t for that hypocrisy, I would still find articles like this pathetic.

Speaking as a gay man, I grew out of being offended by mere words a long time ago. I’m not offended by people calling me anything — even “faggot” despite that still being an actual slur — because the word itself is harmless, it’s the ideas expressed around it that are worthy of giving offensive too. Obviously, I understand everybody is different and most people won’t be able to brush off the harsh terms as easily as I do — but shouldn’t the answer be to teach them how to cope with it as opposed to writing articles for The Guardian that get mocked by — well, people like me?

Truth be told, I was more offended at this article comparing the word “queer” with the infamous n-word than I ever have been at the word “queer” itself. Such an analogy is so hyperbolic as to be actually offensive to the people who have any understanding of the history behind both of those words. Although I’m not…