- Conference
- 2023 National LGBT+ Conference
- Date
- 20 July 2023
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that the word Queer has for many people in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender plus (LGBT+) communities extremely negative connotations as for nearly 130 years the word has been used as a way to insult and alienate members of the LGBT+ Community. Conference notes that the first reported use of Queer as a slur was in 1894, when John Douglas, the 9th Marquis of Queensberry, called his son Lord Alfred Douglas and his alleged lover Oscar Wilde “Snob Queers” in a public court trial. This was widely reported, particularly in America where newspapers began using “queer” as a word to denigrate people perceived as having homosexual characteristics in disparaging articles. This then returned to the UK where Queer as a negative term became part of the popular lexicon.
Conference is aware that as children, many members would have heard the word bandied about and may even have suffered having it shouted at them in the playground or as they walked along the streets. Indeed, in the armed forces, for a long while, service personal would be investigated for being queer, not lesbian, gay or bisexual as they were not the officially approved words. Additionally, many LGBT+ people were victims of, sometimes highly organised, queer bashings over the years.
Conference notes that since the 1990s, LGBT has been a common initialism to describe a community of non-heterosexual and non-cisgendered individuals who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. The further note that in recent decades, it has become more common to see a fifth letter included in the acronym: Q for Queer – it can also mean questioning.
This can be dated back to the aftermath of the Stonewall riots in 1969, when many people in the community started to reclaim the word Queer on the grounds that they were no longer going to stand for a society that used the word against them. Instead, they would take it back and use it themselves, on the basis that ‘society cannot use a word against the community if they are claiming it and are proud of this identity,’
Conference notes that while it is impossible to forget the history of the word, and its long-term painful effect on some within the LGBT+ community, Queer has now spread through those, particularly young people, that wish to give themselves an identity which doesn’t have a specific gender identity or sexual orientation definition.
Conference therefore calls upon the National LGBT+ committee to:
• Commission an article for ‘Out in UNISON’ tracing the history of the word and its current usage including highlighting the negative history of the word.
• Publicise the use of the word Queer as a gender/sexuality non-specific word used by some members of LGBT+ communities, particularly young people, that wish to identify themselves in this way.