Faggot.
Queer.
Muff diver.
Carpet muncher.
Tranny.
Anyone and everyone who has been a recipient of one of those slurs understands that words matter. To pretend otherwise would be a lie. These are the words that helped shape our identity. That kept us closeted to the best of our ability. That told us how we were to be treated — and how we treated ourselves.
If we were lucky, we were only “light in the loafers.” Or perhaps “a woman in comfortable shoes.” But even simple phrases speak volumes about how society views the queer community. We are the other. We are the ones who don’t fall in line with heteronormative ideals of the nuclear family — even if we have children. The latest line of attack is to call same-sex parents groomers or pedophiles.
I cannot recall the first time I heard someone called “faggot.” However, I know the last time I heard that from a straight person: New Orleans, first day of Southern Decadence. As we were passing three young straight guys, one of them said it in conversation with his friends. And for some reason, after tensing up — as one does — I stopped and called him out. The best thing about the encounter? Hearing one of his friends say, “We told you you can’t use that word.”
Because words matter — and whoever is saying them can matter even more. You’ve seen me use the term “queer” over and over again in how I address the LGBTQ+ community. For me, taking that word back to embrace an expanded community — or at least expanded from when I first realized I liked boys — is liberating and empowering. But to have someone call me queer in a derogatory manner? That’s not going to end well.
If you have any question about how important words are, you only need to look at the number of book bans happening across the country. Conservatives continue to attack books in schools and public libraries, pulling anything off the shelves that might affirm queer or Black identities — all under the guise of “protecting children.”
In addition, the ability to accurately teach history is being taken away so white kids don’t “feel bad” about what happened in the past. Except what’s really happening is the erasure of the identities of other cultures and communities, with alternative facts taking the place of actual history.
Which sums up where we are with the current administration and their allies: remove the words they don’t like — the ones that don’t fit into their political viewpoint. We’ve watched over the last few months as Black history, women’s history, and queer history are being removed from websites, monuments, and museums. “Woke” words and phrases are being erased from government documents.
This administration knows that words matter — that an educated public is a danger to their goals and their power. Words are knowledge. And knowledge gives us the ability to speak truth to power. To call out what the government is doing for what it is: racist, homophobic, misogynistic, fascist. Just to name a few.
ACT UP adopted the slogan “Silence = Death” because they knew how important being vocal was to the survival of gay men everywhere. So if you are a queer, a fag, a poofter, or a knob-shiner, own those words — and every other word out there. Use them to stand up for yourself and your community. Use them to push back against tyranny. Use them to let the world know that your history and your identity will not be erased.
Speak.
Write.
Protest.
Because words matter. Every. Single. One.
