Queer is an
umbrella term for
sexual and gender minorities that are not
heterosexual or
cisgender. Originally meaning "strange" or "peculiar",
queer came to be deployed
pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late-
19th century. Beginning in the late-1980s, queer scholars and activists began to
reclaim the word to establish community and assert a politicized identity distinct from the
gay political identity. Queer identitites may be adopted by those who reject traditional gender identities and seek a broader, less conformist, and deliberately ambiguous alternative to the label
LGBT.