麻豆约拍

These stand for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (although the "Q" can also represent Questioning), Intersex, and Asexual. The plus sign is used to acknowledge the plethora of identities that fall outside these labels. These include terms like pansexual, aromantic, non-binary, bigender, fluid, and androgenous.

A celebration of slang

We’re in a climate now where we want to embark on conversations about what inclusion, equity and diversity look like, says Chloe. There needs to be a dialogue around the true spectrum of human identity – whether that be your sexual orientation or expression, and gender identity. This dictionary is a tool for all of us – whether we identify as queer or not – to be able to dive deeper into these conversations and to gain understanding.

“But, more importantly, this dictionary is a celebration of the diverse language that is used to describe the spectrum of gay and queer identity,” says Chloe. “It’s a celebration of what true human identity looks like and it is not binary, it is not monolithic, it is diverse.”

Many more words and phrases were born out of the ballroom scene, Chloe explains.

At these balls, walkers would walk or compete to win trophies and prizes based on their presentation. Throwing shade was “to insult or blatantly show contempt for” your opponents, undermining their attitude, ability or appearance. It’s a phrase that has since been appropriated by the larger LGBTQIA+ community and mainstream culture.

Realness is “a quality someone possesses when they have the ability to copy and bring to life a specific look or behaviour,” says Chloe. The term is often used in succession with another adjective or noun: “You are giving major Olivia Pope realness in that white coat today.” Within the ballroom scene, it is a competition where a participant is judged on their ability to embody a particular look or persona in a way that is authentic and realistic. Popular categories include femme queen realness, school boy realness, executive realness and thug realness.

The word fierce is praise that a person might get when they are walking in a ball, says Chloe. It’s celebrating when they are giving it their all and enticing the audience and the judges.

Butch queen is a category competition in the ballroom scene for cisgender men. (Cisgender means that the sex a person is assigned at birth is also how they identify.) It means a gay, bisexual or queer man who possesses both masculine and feminine traits.

We now hear many of these words on TV and social media and in the streets. What often began as underground language has been adopted and appropriated by mainstream culture because it’s so “creative and useful and prevalent,” says Chloe.

But sometimes when it’s taken, it’s not used correctly, and it can be used with malice. Crucially, says Chloe, when it comes to labels, these are identities that an individual gives themselves. It is disrespectful for other people to give labels to someone who has not self-assigned themselves that label.

And with words that have been adopted by the mainstream – like fierce and realness – proper credit needs to be given to the community that created them.

Chloe hopes her dictionary will help. “Now the world understands that this is language that belongs to a community so we need to respect it and honour it, and hopefully in time we will all learn to celebrate it.”