(but i used to be an asshole too).

you can't rip the skin from my body and call it

liberation.

when you applied the labels,
slurs
filled with razorblades,
knotted up with rough rope,
painted the colors of rotten bruises,
it was alright?

but now that the word "queer"
is mine--
you want it back.

you are not enlightened!
you don't see past
color
or gender
or the lacing together of my fingers
with another woman's,
though you claim
"we're all human!"

you simply don't
want the weight of
"straight"
"cis"
"privileged"
on you.

you started it.

and sometimes i need a name

to remember i'm not as damned

or lost or broken or disgusting

as you taught me.

i'm queer and

you're an asshole who refuses to even intelligently listen to the educated and valid insight of those your opinions actually affect in the end.