crown heights tolerant of queers?

apollonia666 wrote: [quote=Anonymous]Why do you have to refer to yourself as queer?

Nobody HAS to call himself or herself anything. But people should be free to call themselves whatever the hell they want, right?

However, a lot of straight people often don't understand why someone would choose to call himself or herself "queer," so I'll take a stab at answering this.

Some people prefer to call the whole non-hetero community queer because “lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and gay” is a big mouthful that still doesn't encompass everyone who is a part of that community. Queer is a one-syllable non-gender-specific term that includes everyone who doesn’t fulfill the expectations of what it means to be a “man” or a “woman” — gays, lesbians, bisexuals, genderfuckers, trans folks, polyamorous folks, you name it. It is also a political term that, for many, means anti-establishment and anti-norm.

People who use the term queer to describe themselves are aware there are historical negative connotations to the word. For many people who use the term queer to describe themselves, there is enormous power in reclaiming words that have traditionally been used to hurt and marginalize us.

hear hear. while the word, literally, has negative-ish meaning, contextually it is very helpful. when I'm hanging out with a pre-op trans F-M, it's a lot easier to discuss his "queer" life than his extremely long and qualified sexual definitions. there are tons of ostensibly straight folks who also label themselves queer - maybe they enjoy sex with someone of the same gender but don't feel they are bisexual, or maybe they are into sexual practices that are outside of the norm and lead to same sex contact. I, personally, like the word. partly because I think it is the most efficient, culturally contextual way to describe my sexuality. do I really want to describe myself as straight with a myriad of qualifiers? or is it easier, in situations that will comprehend my meaning, to just say that I'm queer?

so, to bring this back to the original question - I do think CH is tolerant of queers. it obviously has a rich history of housing the starlite lounge and the folks who frequent it. that's tolerant. obviously, religious nuts, criminals and teenagers aside, most folks just want to be neighborly and content in their home life, and CH is no exception. I'm not sure I'd like to be trans in CH, but frankly, that's a world-wide issue. I've had to escort way too many trans friends home just to provide a buffer from shitty frat boys, drunk business men, street thugs, average folks, or whoever to not think that. living in CH wouldn't change that fact.