Once again, please make your point if you have one. This thread is not twenty questions about my personal feelings. If your view is that I or others are overreacting, or that the moderation was inappropriate, stop being coy and just say so, explaining your reasons.
It’s a pretty fine line – if Turble had said “queer couples” instead of “queers”, there would be no problem. If it’s true that Turble is gay or queer, it’s practically a slip of the tongue, if he’s used to using it as a noun with his friends.
I see where the warning came from, but I think a note would also have worked just as well. I don’t think there was malicious intent.
I will say that, prior to this thread, I knew none of this about you*. When I read your post in the other thread, it came across, to me, as the sort of post which would have written by a straight white person, who feels that they don’t need commercials to lecture them about how society has changed. And, given that context (or lack thereof), use of the word came across, to me, as somewhere between casually insensitive and insulting.
*- To be fair, the number of Dopers about whom I know much of anything about can be listed on one hand.
This thread baffles me. “Queer” has been in the process of reclamation for decades. All my clients and students use queer to refer to themselves. My resume is full of attended professional conferences and presentations wirh queer in their titles. It is widely culturally accepted.
As a noun?
Both noun and adjective. Sometimes with -ing as a verb.
It’s the noun vs. adjective difference. “All these students identify as queer”…OK. “All the students are queers”…likely offensive. “Liberace was a famous queer piano player”…OK. “Liberace was a famous queer”…likely offensive.
Can you cite some references to its reclaimed use as a noun? I’m more than happy to have my ignorance fought if that’s the case, but I’ve never seen it (except in the tongue-in-cheek / sardonic manner already mentioned).
Not at this instant but next time I encounter it I’ll post. I agree its more frequent as an adjective.
This is paywalled, but for those wondering how msinstream queer is, here’s the NYT, from today’s Books email:
Then I guess I’m unsure what you’re finding baffling about this thread. I’m pretty sure that nobody is disputing that (a) it is widely used as a reclaimed word, and (b) that it has a long history as a slur.
The problem arose from the context in which it was used, and in particular the fact that it was used as a noun.
- I have a job.
- The noun-verb distincton isn’t meaningful to me so I don’t have examples sorted into those categories.
I’m going to downgrade the warning to just a modnote shortly. This is after a modloop discussion and the input in this thread. There seems to be enough people on both sides of this where the warning seems extreme.
As @Turble identifies as queer and some of the staff that also do disagree with the warning.
I’m trying to find the right wording for the modnote to remind people that the use of queer as a noun in particular in a negative post can be taken as offensive by many.
Seems like a good outcome to me. Thanks for taking a second look.
Very reasonable outcome.
I see this situation similar to word “niggardly”. That word has a real meaning of being overly miserly, but clearly it is similar to a racial slur. If you use it in a general situation, like on a message board or in a presentation, it better be used in a context which is 100% not going to be confused with a racial insult. The possibility of confusion should be self-evident. If in doubt, don’t use it at all. With something like the SDMB, I would argue that a word like queer should only be used to describe yourself to avoid this kind of unavoidable confusion. This is a public board with thousands of people with varying backgrounds. There’s a good chance that some of the readers will take the word as a slur regardless of the context in which it’s used.
I think what needs to be clarified is whether someone who identifies as queer has license to use the word in an idiosyncratic manner that is by general social norms considered offensive. Because, for obvious reasons in an online forum, that would be a problematic precedent to set.
Good call. It’s not like you should be expected to know everyone’s ethnicity, gender etc. when you have to make a call. Queer in particular is a tough one, as we’ve seen here, as some gay people don’t like the use of it either.
This, however, is wrong. 
It is tricky as usual.
- “I’m queer” is no problem.
- “I am a queer” is weirdly worded but not actionable.
- “queers and mixed race couples” probably shouldn’t be used as many posters are going to find it offensive.
- In a serious rant “queers are assholes” is pretty much hate speech.
But that doesn’t address my question at all. The question is whether people who identify in a certain way are to be held to different standards.
I mean, obviously when their identity is an intrinsic part of the specific post, as in referring to yourself as “an old queer”, that’s no problem. But in general we cannot assume that we all know who people are, and new people certainly won’t know.