The Nineties: A Book

by Chuck Klosterman

It culminated with two key events in 1990: the formation of the splinter activist group Queer Nation[*] and the distribution of the combative leaflet Queers Read This! during the New York City Pride March. Published anonymously, Queers Read This! is eternally provocative—it calls for “a moratorium on straight marriage, on babies, on public displays of affection among the opposite sex and media images that promote heterosexuality.” It outlines “Rules of Conduct for Straight People” and explicitly explains the adoption of queer as a means of self-identification: Ah, do we really have to use that word? It’s trouble. Every gay person has his or her own take on it. For some it means strange and eccentric and kind of mysterious. That’s okay, we like that. But some gay girls and boys don’t. They think they’re more normal than strange. And for others “queer” conjures up those awful memories of adolescent suffering. Queer. It’s forcibly bittersweet and quaint at best—weakening and painful at worst. Couldn’t we just use “gay” instead? It’s a much brighter word and isn’t it synonymous with “happy”? When will you militants grow up and get over the novelty of being different? Well, yes, “gay” is great. It has its place. But when a lot of lesbians and gay men wake up in the morning we feel angry and disgusted, not gay. So we’ve chosen to call ourselves queer. Using “queer” is a way of reminding us how we are perceived by the rest of the world. It’s a way of telling ourselves we don’t ha...