What does the 'Q' stand for?
Q can mean either 'questioning' or 'queer,' Fred Sainz, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, an organization that lobbies for LGBT rights, told USA TODAY Network. Either interpretation is accepted, he said.
Queer means many things
People use the term queer because it's not specific to sexual orientation or to gender identity but is more of an umbrella term that can encompass a lot of people, according to Sainz.
"Queer is anything that exists outside of the dominant narrative," Cleo Anderson, a 26-year-old intern at GLAAD, a prominent gay rights group, told USA TODAY Network. Anderson identifies with the term.
"Queer means that you are one of those letters (LGBT), but you could be all of those letters and not knowing is OK," she said.
Minorities seem to identify with the term in particular because it also can be used to convey the nuances of race and culture and how that intersects with an individual's gender identity and sexual orientation, she said.
Still, others identify with queer not because it's an umbrella term, but because of its connection to the rise of Queer Nation in the 1990s. Queer Nation is an activist group that first emerged in New York and used militant action to oppose discrimination to LGBT people and reject heteronomative ideals.
"Queer retains that critical edge against regimes of the normal of assimilation and privilege," Octavio R. González, an English professor at Wellesley College told USA TODAY Network.
Reclaiming 'queer'
"For decades (queer) was used as a pejorative against LGBT people," Sainz said. It was demeaning and often accompanied by violence.
But in recent years the LGBT community, particularly younger people, have reclaimed the word, Sainz said.
"It's a badge of honor. It's taking back a word that was once used as a weapon against us," he said. "You find the term completely commonplace in junior and senior high school and in college where individuals identify as queer."
On 'questioning'
Those who use the Q to mean 'questioning' refer to people who are in the process of exploring their identity, Ross Murray, the director of programs at GLAAD, told USA TODAY Network.
"Questioning means someone who is figuring out their gender identity and figuring out how they want to identify their sexual orientation," he said.
When to use 'queer'
Because queer is still considered offensive by some people in the LGBT community, it's generally recommended that people avoid using it other than in situations where a person self-identifies as queer.
"Use the same term to identify them that they would use to identify themselves," Murray said. "We want to focus on the person. If we're telling a story, it's not about just 'Jane is a queer.' It's 'Jane identifies as queer.'"
