Word: queered
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Apparently, I am not alone in my preoccupation. Schaefer argues against queer activism stating, "Most of Harvard is not homosexual, and most of Harvard doesn't care if you are." For a mantra against gay and lesbian activism, such an argument hardly holds water. In fact, the entire issue of The Salient disproves such a claim of apathy with its three articles lobbying repetitively against gay and lesbian equality and visibility. Queer activism is necessary on this campus and in the world until attitudes like those expressed in The Salient disappear entirely...
...Harvard especially, we know the value of the ivy closet. Many of us are conservative politically. Many of us believe that getting ahead is most important. A Harvard student may choose not to write a term paper with a queer theme to accommodate a professor's homophobia. A Harvard student may choose tactfully omit a pronoun to avoid revealing the gender of a lover. A Harvard queer knows when and how to pass as straight--we know what to say, how to smile and how to dress. We can slip in and out from subculture to mainstream and back again...
...very least, The Crimson headline should have stated "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Students of Color Form New Group." I realize that in the interests of space, The Crimson editors cannot try to list every form of queer identity that exists. Even the above example doesn't do that. However, this is exactly my point. We defy category, we defy attempts to be labeled and boxed...
...suggestion I give The Crimson is to start using the word "queer." Who are the editors trying to please by avoiding this word that, frankly, the rest of the educated world uses? The word may be inadequate, but it certainly does a better job than "gay." The editors may find this to be a politically charged word, but so is the phrase "people of color." The fact that some people will always take words that are correct, and call them "politically correct," as a method of implying that they are not really correct, should not deter The Crimson editors from...
Since I'm sure that's what the editors want to do anyway, I hope you'll start making steps to correct this policy of using "gay" as a toned down code word for "queer." It is wrong factually, as well as limiting, backwards and reductive. --Gowri Ramachandran, GSAS