Since it's founding in 1997, the CYC-Net discussion group has been asked thousands of questions. These questions often generate many replies from people in all spheres of the Child and Youth Care profession and contain personal experiences, viewpoints, as well as recommended resources.
Below are some of the threads of discussions on varying Child and Youth Care related topics.
Questions and Responses have been reproduced verbatim.
Listen to thisGood day,
Does anyone actually call themselves queer? I've never heard a person refer to themselves as queer, although I am familiar with the acronym.
Thank you.
Aliese Moran
Co-author Sisters of Pain
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Hi Aliese,
I know many people who identify themselves as queer. Occasionally myself included. I'm not sure of the acronym you're referring to though – do you mean LGBTQ, or a different one?
For some people queer is still an offensive term, but there are also those who like using it and wish to reclaim the term as just a generally, potentially more inclusive word to encompass all in the LGBTQ+ community.
Like most terms of self-identification it mostly comes down to a matter of personal preference.
Megan Besner
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Hi Aliese,
Your question does not seem unrelated at all! Lots of folk identify as queer. Here is one example of how from a quick Google search I did: https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-mean-to-self-identify-as-queer-What-is-the-difference-between-being-%E2%80%9Copenly-lesbian%E2%80%9D-and-%E2%80%9Cqueer%E2%80%9D
There are a ton of queer self-advocates and activists who identify as queer. And, I believe this is closely tied to queer theory, which informs lots of advocacy and academia on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queer_theory
Nancy
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Hi Aliese,
I'm someone that identifies as queer, as do a number of my friends and my partner. There are a lot of reasons that someone may use queer as an identifier and just as many reasons that someone may choose not to (in my experience, it often goes back to the historic use of queer as a slur, although it's largely been reclaimed at this point).
By acronym, I presume you mean some variation of LGBT+/LGBTQ+/LGBTQIA+? There are a lot of variations at this point, and a few alternate acronyms such as MOGAI, SAGA, QUILTBAG, and GSRM (there's been a LOT of pushback again MOGAI and GSRM, however, due to the origins and perceived origins of the terms, and what they included at the time of creation, in reference to GSRM).
Cheers,
Caitlin Mooney
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Thanks all for your input. Got the question answered.
Alise Moran
