October is Queer history month in the United States. Having run into people who are confused by acronyms and terms used by the Queer community, I was glad to run into this very succinct glossary while surfing my local paper’s website today.
Ruth Schneider’s Sept 19 editorial at The Olympian
And further research on the etymology and meaning of the word “Queer” shows this great wikipedia summary (links to more “Queer studies” type pages). important! The wikipedia links can follow to some explicit descriptions of behaviors from the pages I have linked to.
An important note: Queer seems to be used more commonly by younger people and people on the West coast of the United States. Older and East-coast GLBT folk I know are often uncomfortable with the term. So it is important for one to understand local usage before just using the term in conversation — and be prepared to ask for clarification.
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