April was "Queer Harvard Month." Posters across the university advertised 23 events, including two national conferences, receptions, panel discussions, movies, talks and a play. We can all take great pride in the unprecedented schedule of events which the students pulled together this year. Yet their use of the word "queer,", however, elicits a variety of responses.
Many students and recent graduates embrace the term as part of an assertively "out" identity. On the other hand, alumni/ae and more conservative young people are stung by the hurtful connotations of the word and strongly reject it. In part this reflects a split within the gay and lesbian community between those who want "a place at the table" and those who prefer to stake out a distinct "queer" identity.
When I asked the last panel at the Queer Politics Conference how they felt about the term the responses were interesting. Ed Flanagan, JD �86, Vermont State Auditor, said that the word personally made him uncomfortable because of its negative connotations. Kathleen DeBold, Executive Director of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, loves the word in private conversation, but agreed that it may not put our best foot forward when we present ourselves to straight society. Moderator Barbara Roberts, former Governor of Oregon and at the Kennedy School, made a powerful point. As a straight ally, she habitually corrects friends and colleagues when they use pejorative words like "queer." She finds it confusing and upsetting for glbt people to use the word themselves. Another perspective was offered by Homer Simpson on the recently-aired "Homerphobia" episode. He protested when the John Waters character used the term, "I hate it when you do that. That�s our word for you!"
The ascendancy of "queer" owes more, however, to another issue which is moving to the fore. Transgendered people are "coming out" and asking to be included, much as bisexuals did a decade before. The convenient acronym "BGLAD," for "Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Awareness Days becomes unwieldy with the addition of "T." There is an acute need for an "umbrella" term which all can accept, to replace the lengthening laundry list of categories, and the "alphabet soup" of acronyms. "Gay" is unacceptable to many lesbians and transgendered people. "Lambda" lacks panache. "Queer," despite its negative connotations, has become the term of choice.
The Caucus, while welcoming bisexuals and transgendered people, has so far retained its old-fashioned "Gay & Lesbian" name, and does not identify its members as being "queer." The undergraduate organization, in contrast, has added "Transgendered" to its name, and is pressing Harvard to add gender identity to its nondiscrimination policy. The participation of transgendered people and the increasing currency of the "q" word will pose interesting questions about the Caucus� own identity in coming years.
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