Queers Read This (original) (raw)

"Queers Read This" (also stylized "QUEERS READ THIS!") is an essay about queer identity. The polemic was originally circulated by members of Queer Nation as a pamphlet at the June 1990 New York Gay Pride Parade. It characterizes queerness as a community based on social situation and action, in contrast to gay and lesbian identity which are considered to be based on "natural" or inherent characteristics, and suggests that to be queer is to constantly fight against oppression. Many of the concepts initially articulated in "Queers Read This" were later elaborated on by scholars of queer theory.