Lea DeLaria, who plays Carrie Black in the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black, spoke out about “LGBT” terminology in an interview with PrideSource.
“This inclusivity of calling us the LGBTQQTY-whatever-LMNOP tends to stress our differences,” DeLaria said. “And that’s why I refuse to do it. I say queer. Queer is everybody.”
Although DeLaria isn’t alone in thinking the “alphabet soup” needs to go — after all, the full acronym currently stands at LGBTTQQIAAP — others see “queer” as a slur, especially middle-aged people who dealt with bullying and discrimination in the 1950s.
However, the movement to reclaim “queer” has been around since at least 1990 when an anonymous group used it in a pamphlet passed out at the New York Pride Parade:
“‘Queer’ can be a rough word but it is also a sly and ironic weapon we can steal from the homophobe’s hands and use against him,” the pamphlet said. “When spoken to other gays and lesbians it’s a way of suggesting we close ranks, and forget (temporarily) our individual differences because we face a more insidious common enemy.”
Regardless of the term you prefer, hopefully you’re excited that DeLaria has been promoted to a series regular for Season Four of OITNB.
Let’s just hope Ruby Rose makes an appearance.
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