I think Kenneth Chandler made some insightful comments about the use of "bitch" and "nigga" in his column Monday. But I think he made a mistake including queer.
Queer is different for several reasons. Although people often use queer interchangeably with LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered), it doesn't actually mean the same thing.
LGBT people generally assume an ethnic model of sexual identity. Sexual identities are fixed, stable, immutable and biologically determined.
Queer theorists began critiquing this essential version of identities by exposing the social construction of sexual identities. Queer theory argues that identities are specific to certain cultures and moments in history, fluid, unstable, and performative in nature.
People engaging in sex acts with the same sex will be categorized and treated differently depending on the culture and moment in history. Rigid categories of sexual identity are a fiction.
To solve some of the problems with essential identities, queer theorists began describing sexual minorities as queer. Queer is very ambiguous term with permeable boundaries and no established characteristics.
Queer is a self-identification process, not an objective category others transcribe on you.
It can be described as anti-normal or in opposition to heteronormativity. So anyone against heteronormativity may feel queer -- even straight people.
