I
s an umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities that are not
heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning “strange” or “peculiar,”
queer began to be used derogatorily against people with same-sex
desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the late
1980s, queer activists such as members of the Queer Nation began to
reclaim the word as a deliberately provocative and politically radical
alternative to the more assimilative branches of the LGBT community.
In the 2000s and on, queer was increasingly used to describe a wide range
of non-normative (that is, anti-heteronormative and anti-homonormative)
sexual and gender identities and policies. Academic disciplines such as
queer theory and queer studies share a common opposition to binary,
normative, and perceived lack of intersectionality, some of which are only
indirectly related to the LGBT movement. Queer arts, queer cultural groups,
and queer political groups are examples of contemporary expressions of
queer identities.