Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 10:40:13 -0500 From: Mark Mandel Subject: the use of "Queer" -Reply Ron Butters writes: >>>>> Here is a response to your question about the use of the term "queer": I use the word "queer" these days a lot, as a cover term encompassing 'gay, bisexual, lesbian, transgendered, transsexual'. <<<<< I didn't see the original that this was a reply to. I wouldn't feel comfortable at all using the word "queer". I learned it, in the 50s, as a derogatory word, parallel to "spic", "kike", and "nigger". I know that many homosexual (etc.) people use the word now, but as a non-member of the group(s) referred to I feel very intensely that coming from me it would be heard as insulting, just as the (affectionate?) use of "nigger" by some Black people among themselves doesn't license me, a white person, to use it. In fact, I was startled by the beginning of Ron's response, until I inferred that he identifies himself as "queer". Mark A. Mandel : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/