This is my favourite type of queer to be.

Genderqueer Adj.

denoting or relating to a person who does not subscribe to conventional gender distinctions but identifies with neither, both, or a combination of male and female genders.

I like to use it to fuck with people, because just when they’re getting their heads around me presenting in a way that might be classed as the guy I say I am, I go back and do something coded female, like wearing make up or a dress and just screw with them. It’s so much fun.

Genderqueer, despite being a relatively new term has already been added to the dictionary, and is an important term in LGBTQIA+ communities. It is an umbrella term that can cover a large variety of gender identities, can be presented in a multitude of different ways, and is just a fun word to say.

It is important to note, as with other labels on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, not everyone who isn’t cisgender will use genderqueer as a descriptor, and not everyone likes it.

So why is it useful?

1. It’s a quick way of denoting non-binary gender. One of the biggest complaints I hear is that “there are so many new genders, it’s so confusing”. And it’s really fucking tiring having to hear that over and over, and then describe a gender identity repeatedly. As how people understand “queer” to mean “not heterosexual” (to simplify things), hopefully “genderqueer” can come to mean “not cisgender” in the same way, and make it a lot less tiring and stressful for people to describe their gender identities.
2. It saves time. Pretty straight forward this one.
3. It stops folx having to go into detail they don’t want to. As I said in this post, sometimes it’s not entirely safe for someone to be out, or they don’t feel comfortable going into details about something that is very personal. Genderqueer, like queer, could become a shorthand for “not cis, but don’t want to talk about it”.

As with all gender identities, how and if a person is genderqueer is entirely personal and will differ from person to person: again, just because one person uses it doesn’t mean you can use it for everyone, and you should respect individual wishes.

Here are some other accounts of being genderqueer:

Jacob Tobia’s account.

Several accounts from staff at GenderQueerID

Explaining genderqueer to Cis folx at Neutrois Nonsense