Val McDermid ad on alibi-use of word "queer"

[CervixSampler]

This might not be the right board so I apologise for that but I've no idea where to post this. Posters here will be knowledgable though so I figured it was my best bet.

I was enjoying my guilty pleasure of an episode or two of Father Brown and a cup of tea yesterday and an advert caught my attention as I fast forwarded through as I thought I recognised Val McDermid, so I watched with interest as she's one of my favourite authors. It was perhaps linked to Pride month and Val McDermid was talking about the need for there to be more queer people on our screens.

I get confused by acceptable use of language and I thought that 'queer' was deemed offensive. My mum uses it instead of the word 'odd' to describe something strange, not people, and I always inwardly wince as in my teens and twenties it was not an acceptable word to use. Although there was the show Queer As Folk 🤷🏼‍♀️

Is it an acceptable word to use to describe those from the LGBTQ+ community? I'd have to watch again but Val McDermid definitely used all those letters but I might have missed an A out, not sure. Or is it just acceptable within that community?

I always worry about causing offence and struggle to work out what is ok and what isn't and get anxious about getting it wrong (being assessed for ASD).

Who is driving this? Older gen gay people? Some people say is is for Questioning.

@Viviennemary

I like Val Mcdermid. She seems a good sort. Can't stand Rowling. Such a busy body always wanting her twopennyworth. Thinking what she says is more important than anybody else. Don't get that with Val McDermid

Yes Val is like a church mouse. You'd hardly even know she was there.🙄

Never, ever assume a slur is acceptable because it's being used in corporate branding. I'll reiterate - the word was sometimes used among those of us in the gay community in a very specific way, similarly the 'f' word, as hurtful words sometimes are by beleaguered groups to try and puncture their edge. But unless you've actually been on the receiving end of the aggressive use of it, you really don't have the same psychological context. An older gay person, with their face set like flint against a hostile world, holding a banner that says 'We're here, we're queer' and demanding basic human rights after having that word hurled with fists at them is very different to a person comfortably claiming to represent all LGB people using the word Queer to mean all of us. There's a self effacing dignity in the first example, because these people faced the whirlwind so that it would be possible to hold hands with your beloved in the street without arrest or violence.
And given that we're not there yet, and lesbian, gay and bisexual people are still being beaten up, I promise you that corporate rainbow washing will not cut it if you use it as a catch all term for homosexual or bisexual people.
I 100% mean it when I say I will report it if it's used of me. If words are so damned important to some groups that they can call the police then damn right I will call out in the strongest terms anyone who uses homophobic slurs as though I should be grateful for the insult.

I see straight people using it (straight, but gay, not bi). What the heck does it even mean then?