Meaning
The FFRF (or its Twitter wrangler) didn’t answer my question about what they meant by “queer” in tweeting
“In Nebraska, kids were getting the same Sex Ed. their grandparents received. We finally updated the curriculum.” — NE State Sen. Megan Hunt, first queer woman elected to district
so I looked it up. Voterly tells us
Megan Catherine Hunt (born May 9, 1986) is an American entrepreneur and politician serving as a member of the Nebraska Legislature. A member of the Democratic Party, Hunt represents the 8th legislative district in Omaha, consisting of the midtown neighborhoods of Dundee, Benson, and Keystone. She succeeded term-limited Nebraska State Senator Burke Haar. She identifies as bisexual, and was the first openly LGBT person elected to the state legislature of Nebraska, as well as the first woman to represent the 8th district.
There are many other sources saying the same thing.
Ok so why did FFRF, or its Twitter handler, translate “bisexual” to “queer”?
I would really be interested to know. I also wonder if Megan Hunt wants to be called that, and if anyone asked her before calling her that.
I can answer that. That is how she referred to herself. It wasn’t in their introduction; I didn’t know she “identified as queer” until she said it. So they are using her preferred term.
To add to that, she never once used the word bisexual. I didn’t know that until just now. I’ve been wondering what made her “queer”, too, but didn’t look it up.
I wonder why. Maybe it’s just that it sounds more “interesting”?
Nah, this is more akin to when a Mexican-American politician refers to themselves as Latino–it’s the broader, umbrella term, and thus creates a sympatico vibe with a larger segment of the population. (The truth is, the “Latino” community is almost as fractured as the “queer” population is, in terms of how much they really have in common. Cuban-Americans tend to be virulently anti-socialism, due to Castro, while Mexican-Americans are heavily Catholicized, which results in a hard-to-map left/right positioning–they’re often economically leftist, but social conservatives. Puerto Ricans, meanwhile, having actual American citizenship out of the gate, often regard other Latino groups with almost as much disdain as any other xenophobic, “I Got Mine” Anglo does.)
Yet these different and disparate groups get ‘force teamed’, not only by the racist GOPpers who just see brown skin and hear the accent, but also by Democrats who want to be able to treat them like a monolithic, reliable voting bloc (without putting in a lot of effort to engage each group separately). In the same way, identifying as “queer” lets Hunt make an immediate pitch of “I’m like you” to anyone who falls under that massive QUILTBAG umbrella–and, again, not having to worry about trying to deal with issues that might come up between members of those groups.