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If we're on the topic of the word "queer," there are few words that the religious right figures I grew up around in the '90s hated more than they hated the word "queer." There was something about that particular word getting reclaimed that just ate them up inside.
Hearing religious right leaders ranting about the slogan, "We're here, we're queer, get used to it," was the first real encounter I had with the idea that being LGBTQ wasn't something sad and tragic that you try to change and are super conflicted about.
"Queer" isn't just a reclaimed slur, it's a statement of defiance against a world that demands shame and guilt for who we are. It's throwing the hatred back in their faces. The religious right understood that, and it's why they hated the word so much.
The one thing that broke through the religious right bubble was "Queer" as a statement of unapologetic refusal to be ashamed or to hide away. It's a word that told me all the ex-gay propaganda and insistence that everyone is miserable was bullshit.
Saying, "queer is a slur," takes a statement of unapologetic defiance in the face of hate and reduces it back down to a word that an unaccepting world threw at us to try and make us ashamed. It's doing what the religious right failed to do and stripping it of its defiance.
"We're here, we're queer, get used to it," is a statement that we're not the ones who are wrong and need to change, the world is. Calling ourselves queer tells the world that no matter how much they try, we're not going away. It's standing firm and saying, "no, you move."
