# Queer *Queer, here, is being used as the ultimate blanket/umbrella term for all things LGBTQ+.* --- ## LGBTQ+ > ‘Acronym used to describe lesbians, gay men, bisexual people, transgender people, queer people, and any other sexual and gender minorities as a group.’[^1] --- ### Lesbians ![[asofterworld.com _ schoolgirl.jpg]] <small>*The school for girls who like schools for girls.*[^2]</small> --- ### Gay men > [[For young gay men, ‘the body becomes a central point … Much of the focus is centred on the body’s looks, its ability to function, and its capacity to fulfil a dual role in which the men often live separate lives.’]][^3] [[Gay male culture is ‘heavily aesthetically oriented’.]][^4] --- ### Trans - *See:* [[Trans]] --- ## Australia [[While Australia is in no way free of homophobia, there are at least ‘counsellors and other forms of social service assistance to ease personal emotional issues.’]][^5] ### The Asian-Australian queer experience [[Asian gay men in Australia felt their ‘Asianess’ made their lives more complicated than the lives of their Western counterparts.]][^6] [[For Asian men in Australia, it is their father's homophobia and anguish that poses the biggest threat to their ongoing and familial happiness.]][^7] > [[Despite ‘going for white guys’, Asian gay men in Australia ultimately find it easier to develop long-term relationships with other Asian men.]][^8] [[While Australia is in no way free of homophobia, there are at least ‘counsellors and other forms of social service assistance to ease personal emotional issues.’]][^5] --- ## China > [[In post-Mao China, ‘individual desires are open to more discussion and the topic of gender, especially queer, has been circulated more than before.’]][^9] --- ## Religion ### Christianity - *External resource:* [Just Because He Breathes: Learning to Truly Love Our Gay Son](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/just-because-he-breathes-learning-to-truly-love-our-gay-son_b_3478971?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular) --- ## Queering history *It’s important not to try and apply terms like ‘bisexual’ or ‘lesbian’ to people in different time periods and cultures. Those terms are so identity-based, and other people (especially historically) will not have shared those identities. Historians prefer to stick to more neutral/factual terms like ‘homoeroticism’ or ‘male-male sexual behaviour’ etc. Queer people have, of course, always existed! But, yeah. They won’t often have had that specific self-aware identity.* (Not unlike the same situation in science/biology. c.f. §[[It is best practice to draw ‘a distinction between human attributes of gender and sexuality (both of which are categories based on self-identification …) and the scientific terminology of sex and sexual behaviours.’|13.6]].) [^1]: ‘LGBTQ+’, Homosaurus, modified 23 February 2025, 07:10:06 (UTC), https://homosaurus.org/v4/homoit0000807. [^2]: Emily Horne and Joey Comeau, ‘497: The school for girls who like schools for girls’, *a softer world*, accessed 25 March 2025, https://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=497. [^3]: Murray J. N. Drummond, ‘[[Drummond, ‘Asian Gay Men’s Bodies’, 2005|Asian Gay Men’s Bodies]]’, *The Journal of Men’s Studies*, vol. 13, no. 3 (1 April 2005), p. 292. [https://doi.org/10.3149/jms.1303.291](https://doi.org/10.3149/jms.1303.291). [^4]: Drummond, ‘Asian Gay Men’s Bodies’, p. 292. [^5]: Drummond, ‘Asian Gay Men’s Bodies’, p. 297. [^6]: Drummond, ‘Asian Gay Men’s Bodies’, p. 294. [^7]: Drummond, ‘Asian Gay Men’s Bodies’, p. 296. [^8]: Drummond, ‘Asian Gay Men’s Bodies’, p. 295. [^9]: Yuqi Guo, ‘[[Guo, ‘The Practice of Chuquan by Queer NGOs in China’, 2021|The Practice of Chuquan by Queer NGOs in China]]’, *Proceedings of the 2021 5th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2021)*, 9 August 2021, p. 344. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.210806.064. <small>([CC BY-NC 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.))</small>