On February 24, Twitter user John Russell Stranger tweeted asking people to battle homophobia by posting sarcastic responses about being queer using the hashtag #imqueerbecause:
Y’all, people come up with some evil and nonsensical reasons for why we’re queer. Let’s use #ImQueerBecause to have fun with the absurdity.
— John Russell Stanger (@RevJohnRussell) February 23, 2016
And queer twitter literally exploded – with responses ranging from biting, to intense, to ribticklingly hilarious. The hashtag was started to counter the bogus assumption that any form of childhood trauma or abuse leads to someone ‘turning gay’ or LGBTQ – which is surprisingly common amongst homophobes – and slowly evolved into a full-scale attack on common stereotypes associated with the LGBT+ community.
There were some hillarious responses:
#ImQueerbecause I went into a closet looking for Narnia but I got lost and came out a different closet https://t.co/PWYAvKnsQX
— Christophe Schaefer (@Kristophicus) February 24, 2016
Some people blamed it on “queer” food:
#ImQueerBecause One time I ate all the red M&Ms in the bag. You know what Red No. 2 does to you. https://t.co/1x2Jqbfctl
— Jes Kast-Keat (@JesKastKeat) February 23, 2016
#ImQueerBecause I had to many sprinkles on my ice cream when I was 5.
— Paul Trillich (@mr_wrightaway) February 23, 2016
#ImQueerBecause I drank coffee too early.
— John Russell Stanger (@RevJohnRussell) February 23, 2016
(didn’t quite get that reference, but I guess stereotypes are that random)
#ImQueerBecause I ate too much glitter as a child.
— Broderick Greer (@BroderickGreer) February 23, 2016
Some people took on stereotypes head on:
#Imqueerbecause I wore a #plaid parochial school uniform.
— C. Valentine (@LiberTbyrd) February 23, 2016
#ImQueerBecause I watched The Wizard of Oz everyday for a year when I was four.
— Layton Williams (@ReverendFem) February 23, 2016
#ImQueerBecause I saw two guys kissing when I was a kid. pic.twitter.com/IsJKNE1oGV
— Eliel Cruz (@elielcruz) February 23, 2016
My purity ring wasn’t big enough. #ImQueerBecause
— Katherine Lee Baker (@revkatiebaker) February 23, 2016
The Sarcasm Was Strong With This One:
#ImQueerBecause a gay classmate sneezed on me in middle school and didn’t take the straight pills and wear the straight jacket to cure it.
— Broderick Greer (@BroderickGreer) February 23, 2016
Soon, Things Got Way Too Real:
#ImQueerBecause just being Black seemed like under achieving.
— The Beauty Vet (@thebeautyvet) February 23, 2016
#ImQueerBecause I woke up one day and decided a life time of discrimination sounded fun
— melina (@Melina1193) February 24, 2016
#ImQueerBecause I’m just in it for the relief of dysphoric symptoms
— Space Zinnia (@ZJemptv) February 24, 2016
#ImQueerBecause I’m sick of people acting as though their fellow humans are a different species, based entirely on genetalia. #genderqueer
— Ronen Kohn (@nowzehir) May 8, 2010
All in all, it was a pretty rad twitter trend, and some important misconceptions and stereotypes about LGBTQ people were challenged. You did good, twitter!
