Issa Serrano
The LGBT+ community encompasses a large variety of people that do not fit the heteronormative or “normal” mold. It is a term that incorporates people of all sexualities and genders that are not straight or cis-gendered. It is a subculture that has faced scrutiny and ridicule, however in the face of such discriminatory actions we have created a space that’s main ideals are those of equality and acceptance. One that values kindness amongst us and allows everyone to have to freedom to be who they are. With our shared perspective we have created a language that reflects those beliefs, promotes unity, allows us to recognize each other, even when in a setting that isn’t necessarily queer. It generates a comradery that allows us to combat the hatred and discrimination that we face every day.
The LGBT+ community has its own set of vocabulary that is meant to keep out the bigots who do not accept us as part of society. In our attempts to combat prejudice, we reclaim words that have harmful meanings. The queer community is not the first to do this, as the African American community has done it as the Latino community. The Latino community specifically, created a whole language dedicated to the revolt of their oppressors called pachuco. The prevalent Latina activist, Gloria Anzaldua states in her essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, “Pachuco is a language… of rebellion, both against Standard Spanish and Standard English” (35). This is not a new concept, and every minority community uses and creates a language that is meant as an insurrection against those who cause them harm. Both to keep themselves connected and to keep the despots out.
The Queer community, as it is sometimes referred to as an umbrella term for the LGBT+ community (however that term has been debated as it once was used as a slur), has a sense of humor. In recent years a lot of young queers (or baby gays if you will) have taken long outdated slurs and turned them into words of affirmation and acceptance. Such as the word “fruity”. What once was a rude term to describe a gay person, is now a loving term used to identify other people of the community. It is like an inside joke, but for a larger group of people. A way for queer to make light of the injustices against them and as a rebellion to their oppressors. Queers reclaim this word to take back the harmful narrative that has presented them and to relate to each other. This word simply means that you are fruit if you are gay.
When we use language, we don’t often think about where it comes from. It comes so naturally once it is in our vocabulary that it just slips our minds. We have a predisposition to believe that it was created by a friend of a friend, or just that who we heard it from first knew where it began. The word originates from the early 19th century in Great Britain and was used mostly by the lower class in unsavory professions, such as sex workers and showmen. The original definition meant a mentally ill person, but as time progressed the word eventually came to mean more specifically, that the mental illness was homosexuality. Fruits, the food, is usually thought of as soft, and considered extremely feminine. By comparing queer men to a fruit, by those terms, it was insulting.
The 21st-century technology brought with it, globalization. People from all over the planet now have easier access to communicate with each other. The queer community has been able to connect what was small groups and bring together a larger base. We are existing on a global scale that less isolating and communities have been able to share our once regional specific language with one another. Queer groups have existed in different forms around the globe, and social media has brought them together. Twitter popularized the word fruit to expand outside of England and brought it to America.
The queers have taken a harmful set of vocabulary and turned it into something meaningful. When presented with hardships instead of shaming one another in an attempt to fix into a society that would shun them. We created a place where everyone is included and supported. This comradery has allowed us to gain equal rights and acceptance. Language connected us and allowed us to become an unmovable and powerful force that has overturned previous laws that have legally renounced us, but also turn the majority of people’s opinions to believe that all humans are equal no matter who they love. Only through the power of communication and language are humans prepared to mobilize movements. Finding humor in the face of pain the queer community is an impressive force
Works Cited
Anzaldua, Gloria. “How To Tame a Wild Tongue.” “They say / I say”: the Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, edited by Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, W. W. Norton & Company, 2014, pp. 37.
