TYLER DEGENFELDER and S. L. FULLER
Special to The Leader and News Editor
In 1994, the first ever instance of Gay History Month was celebrated in the U.S. Since then, it has expanded and is now celebrated all over the world. But this year, Fredonia’s Pride Alliance has decided to call it “Queer History Month” instead.
As the queer community grows and expands, its name has has begun to come under scrutiny. With a community that has an initialism that seems to be be expanding more and more (LGBTQIAP is the most cited acronym), it’s starting to seem that the word “gay” is not enough to cover everything that the queer community encompasses.
“Not everyone who comes to pride is gay, and [the word] is just not inclusive enough. So we settled on ‘queer’ because it’s [a word] that we’re working on reclaiming in this generation of activists,” said Amanda Pruden, Pride Alliance president and senior women’s and gender studies major. “We’re trying to get people to see ‘queer’ as an umbrella term for the community — trying to get them to see it not as a slur — something to use against us — [but] something that we can use to fight back.”
While it’s meant to be a more inclusive word, “gay” has come to denote a specific image. Most often, it seems that “gay” signifies homosexual men, with traditionally female homosexual women being referred to exclusively as “lesbian” or its variations. Now that the queer community has begun working to “reclaim” or adjust the meaning behind the use of the word “gay,” it can bring the community together under a common name.
“I think [Queer History Month] is a lot more inclusive than just calling it ‘Gay History,’ because I identify as asexual which sort of falls outside that gay/straight binary,” said Zach Thomas, freshman theatre arts major. “So calling it ‘Queer History Month’ instead sort of opens a lot more doors …”
The reclamation of “queer” isn’t just happening on this campus. It’s something that — even though it’s still in the early stages — is starting to catch on with activists everywhere.
“A lot of the activism community — online especially — is embracing the word ‘queer’ just because it’s short, it’s sweet, it’s easy to write, it rolls off the tongue much better than LGBT. And then there’s a bunch of other letters that you have to keep adding on and adding on and it just ends up lengthy and nobody wants to remember the order or what everything stands for,” said Pruden. “It’s much easier to just call the community the ‘queer community.’”
Thomas, even though a supporter of the switch from “gay” to “queer,” is skeptical that the re-appropriation will happen quickly.
“I feel like it will take some time, especially since everyone used to associate it in a derogatory way, but in time in could be used for better than that,” said Thomas. “It could be a good word for anyone who falls outside the heterosexual cisgender, the norm.”
Despite what’s going on elsewhere, as Pride president, Pruden knew it was time to make the change for the campus. With such a diverse community with many identities recognized, it was necessary to make this history month more inclusive.
“I identify as lesbian [so] it is inclusive for me to call it ‘Gay History Month,’” said Pruden. “My girlfriend, [however], isn’t gay — she’s pansexual. It would feel awkward for her to say ‘come celebrate Gay History Month’ since it wasn’t something that she really related to. She’s like ‘Oh, it’s just for gay men and lesbians and that’s it.’ [But] that isn’t the extent of the community.”
The queer community is continually expanding, which means old practices must evolve with it. This includes re-appropriating terms, even if the process will take time. But the Pride Alliance on campus is not afraid to take that step.
“There are just so many identities, and we’re all so diverse, it’s silly to call it [Gay History Month],” said Pruden. “I’ve always just thought it was silly to call it something that specific for events that were meant for a bunch of different people.”