Queer

 is an umbrella term for individuals of sexual and gender minorities and individuals who fall outside of and/or reject the cultural norms around sexuality, gender identity, and/or gender expression.

The word can mean different things to different individuals, but the most common meaning is someone who is not cishet/someone with variant experiences with orientation, gender and/or sex.

Queer is often used as an umbrella term for those who are in the LGBTQ+ community, although not all individuals in the LGBTQ+ community identify as queer. One may use it as an identity on its own.

The term is sometimes capitalized when referring to an identity or community, rather than as a general adjective.

Etymology
Queer originates from Scotland in the 1500s, originally meaning "strange," "odd," "peculiar" or "eccentric." It began to be associated with homosexuality in 1922 as an adjective, then a noun in 1935.

Definitions

 * An adjective used by some people, particularly younger people, whose sexual orientation is not exclusively heterosexual (e.g. queer person, queer woman). - GLAAD
 * [...] the term is also considered by some to be inclusive of the entire community and by others who find it to be an appropriate term to describe their more fluid identities. - PFLAG

History
By the late 1800s, queer gained a connotation of sexual deviance, and was typically used as a pejorative term in reference to feminine men or men who engage in same-sex relationships. In June 1990, an organization called Queer Nation distributed a leaflet at a pride march in New York, signed anonymously as having been written by "Queer." They explained the adoption of the label queer in this paragraph: "'Every gay person has his or her own take on it. For some it means strange and eccentric and kind of mysterious [...] And for others 'queer' conjures up those awful memories of adolescent suffering [...] 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.'"The queer identity was often associated with a more radical political stance, particularly it was reclaimed by queer individuals of color, gender non-conforming individuals, and other individuals whose existence greatly challenged the status quo and were not accepted by those of a more conservative view.

Controversy
Some individuals, both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+, object to the use of the word queer for various reasons. Some LGBTQ+ individuals dislike the use of queer as an umbrella term because they associate it with political radicalism, which in their view, played a role in dividing the community by political opinion, class, gender, age, and other factors. Others disapprove of reclaiming or using the word queer because they consider it offensive, derisive, or self-deprecating because of its use by non-LGBTQ+ individuals as a pejorative term.

Subsets

 * Straight Queer
 * Queerflexible

Flags
One of the first specifically queer flags was created by Pastelmeemer on or before August 17, 2015. The shades of pink and the shades of blue next to each other represent same-gender attraction. The orange and green are for non-binary individuals. Black and white are for asexual, aromantic and agender individuals.

The most commonly known queer flag is the chevron flag, created by istudyhumanhope on October 3, 2016. The lavender was used because it's a color associated with the queer community and white was used because white light is formed by all of the colors of the rainbow. The shape was chosen because it is not straight. An alternate version was created by Bizesuals on October 4, 2016, due to complaints about the original being a sensory trigger. This version had a pure white background, but by October 5, 2016 the version with an off-white background was created. The off-white represents the queering of identities and the inherent non-straightness of queer identity. The chevron is reminiscent of militaristic imagery, reminding everyone of queer individuals' pride in the radical anti-assimilation of queer identity.

An alternate version of the chevron flag was created by bihetnaomi on December 10, 2016.

Another alternate queer flag was created by Tumblr users officialqueer and the-thought-museum on October 3, 2016. It features the colors of the rainbow flag in pastel and grey in-between to represent a spectrum where someone would rather identify with a broader term than a more specific identity.