Here's to Queers

Queer is one of my favourite words.  I like the way it sounds - crisp and short.  I also like what it means:  (adj.) strange, odd, weird, eccentric.  That's the perfect definition for a word that begins with an uncommon letter, because only .49% of the words in the English language begin with "Q."  And since I've always been fond of people, places, objects, or ideas that are slightly strange or outside the norm, the word queer meets all my criteria for favourite things.

The adjective queer was first used as a noun to mean "homosexual" in 1922.  Now it's in popular usage, as in the acronym LGBTQA.  (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, asexual )  However, I find the acronym too long and somewhat redundant.  I prefer to call all people who love or gender-identify differently as queer.  It's an inclusive word with a fascinating etymology that describes contemporary queerness beautifully.
Sadly, my fondness for odd things and people is not shared by everyone.  The recent massacre of forty-nine people in a gay bar in Orlando, Florida is a tragic example.  Hate crimes against minorities are committed because the victims are not the same as whomever happens to be the majority.  The people who died in Orlando were killed because they love differently.
Queerness has a long history of being feared and ostracised, and I don't mean strictly in terms of gender-identity.  There are many kinds of outsiders who have been relegated to the periphery of human society for their differences: mad people, fools and clowns, poets, artists, spinsters, widows, the very young and the very old, and other "strange" folks who've been marginalised or disenfranchised in some way.  There have been cultures and periods of history, however, when many of these outsiders were respected and even revered for the very same reasons they were reviled.
Outsiders have a different perspective, and can offer a more objective point of view if they are allowed to do so.  But looking from the outside in can be dangerous as well.  Ancient soothsayers, bards, court jesters, priests and priestesses, or  anyone who was considered "touched" by the gods were taken very seriously by the powerful people they advised.  Unfortunately, such outsiders often sacrificed their lives if the truth they spoke displeased those in power.
The day after the Orlando shootings, I demonstrated solidarity with my queer brothers and sisters by dressing up in motley attire.  I walked to my yoga studio on a brilliant, summer's morning bedecked from top to bottom in multi-colours and patterns galore.  My appearance may have been eccentric, even outlandish, but I knew that whatever attention I attracted to myself (although that wasn't my purpose) was to support rainbow-souls everywhere. 
As I stood at a stoplight waiting to cross the street, I spied an attractive, hip, young woman on the opposite corner.  When the light turned green we walked across the street, passing each other midway.  She looked at me with a broad smile.  "You look so beautiful," she said. I smiled back and thanked her.  It was reassuring to know that there are people out there who appreciate and even admire weirdness and "otherness." 
The next day I wore clownish garb again.  While changing into my quirky clothes after yoga class, a septuagenarian yogi by the name of Wendy exclaimed "Your outfit's so bright and gay."  Wendy wasn't being intentionally ironic when she used the word gay to mean happy, because she didn't know my reasons for dressing so oddly.  I took great delight in telling her how fitting her use of the word gay was.
Mortal outsiders have always been favoured by Otherworld spirits.  Fairies, who are outsiders themselves, prefer weirdoes and oddballs to mortals who adhere to mainstream convention.  So it's entirely appropriate that the supposedly pejorative epithet "fairy" is often used to describe gay men.  How ironic is that? 
Magic is not the norm.  In fact, it's the complete opposite of anything that's normal or ordinary.  But just because something is weird doesn't mean it's wrong or bad.  It's just different.  And like my Otherworldly counterparts, I have always had a soft spot for eccentrics and outsiders.  Maybe that makes me a little weird as well.  I sure hope so.
I also hope that one day all the weirdoes of this world will be loved and appreciated and for their unique perspectives and distinct ways of living and loving.  Differences are something to be cherished and nurtured, not rejected or feared.  Different and diverse people add colour and texture to this manifold world. 

Where there is no diversity there is no life.  Mother Earth is a rare and special miracle in this vast Universe due to the fact that She harbours life - a great variety of life.  It's called bio-diversity.  Earth is a living, breathing organism.  If you want everything to be the same all the time, go to Mars.  It's been the same, arid, unchanging planet for eons.
So I'm writing this as a tribute to the forty-nine queer folk who died because they loved differently; and to honour all eccentrics and outsiders who grace this world with their wildly, mildly divergent ways. 
May all of you stay weird and wonderful, and above all, stay true to yourselves.
Blessed be.
- G.P.