LGBTQ Q for queer. Isn't that the same as "gay"?

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I've heard that the Q in the LGBTQ acronym can mean queer as well as questioning. Isn't "queer" the same thing as "gay" though? Isn't having Q for "queer" like having H in the acronym for "homosexual" when there is already a G for "gay".

No, it's a common misconception. Q means "queer" or "questioning" whereas the G means "gay."

I have NEVER heard the word "queer" used to mean only "eccentric" (in a non sex or gender related way).

Obviously "queer" originally meant "odd". Like "gay" originally meant "happy/carefree".

In the pre WWII era the parents of the Boomers grew up in effeminate men were called "queer". So by implication queer meant 'homosexual male'.

Then in the Sixties and Seventies new terms came into vogue. In polite company you called homosexual men "gay", and in rough company you called them "fa***ts", or "homos". "Queer" became quaint, and passe'.

So yes, you would think that "queer" and "gay" would be redundant words for the same thing.

But apparently, as I understand it, in the last couple years the gay subculture has repurposed the word "queer" to mean "bi curious", or something like that. So if you're in the know about the latest lingo it now means something slightly different from just "solidly homosexual". So it isn't quite redundant anymore. I suppose.

I've seen "queer street" used in English literature, which is basically their version of "skid row" I believe.

I’ve heard “queer” used in all these senses.

I’ve heard women say to guys that they are “queer ducks,” meaning “odd.”

“Queer” meant “gay” to lots of people in the 70s, though older people tended to use that term. I didn’t know of gay=homosexual until the mid 70s.

Now, like others are saying, “queer” means one who is “questioning,” or perhaps are neutral sexually.

Queer and Queen are only one letter apart and an 'r' is almost an 'n'.

In this case, Ez is seeking to add a little bit of levity to the conversation

I don't know why: but I prefer Ezra to Ez. Ez sounds like some monster-type thingee.

There are people who would prefer to distance themselves from gay communities. Not because they have a prejudice against them, but because their sexuality is outside what is expected in those communities, so they don't fit in socially. Nor do they fit in with normal people.

Then you have the term "genderqueer"---which usually means that one's gender is "fluid."