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"Queer"
American slang term for a gay man, which has spread to other English-speaking countries. The word originally meant "odd" or "peculiar," and probably attained its current usage around the 1920s. Though originally perjurative in nature, the term has in recent years been adopted by members of the gay community as an all-inclusive term for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered persons, and those who engage in homosexual activity but still identify as straight. The activist group Queer Nation describes the use of queer by the gay community as a means of empowerment. By using the word queer as a badge of honor, one effectively destroys its effectiveness as a means of inflicting hurt by those homophobes who use it.
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