Full description of the featured image for the post “What’s in a Word: Queer?”:
Title: What’s in a Word?
In bold, underneath: “QUEER”
Underneath, there are two columns of speech bubbles. The left column is labeled “myths” and the right column is labeled “facts.”
Myth: Queer is a violent word; it is unavoidably offensive.
Fact: Words have multiple meanings; queer is sometimes still used as a slur but its primary meaning today is as a positive sexual/gender/political identity and perspective.
Myth: Queer is a hip way to say gay.
Fact: Queer and gay have very different meanings, despite some overlap.
Myth: Calling yourself queer is an act of self-hatred.
Fact: Calling yourself queer is an act of proud defiance.
Myth: Straight people can’t use the word queer.
Fact: It’s what you use it for that matters most, not who you are.
Below the speech bubbles, a line of text says: There are a lot of myths out there about queer. Learn the facts.
At the bottom of the graphic, the paper the words appear on emerges from a typewriter. Above the typewriter ribbon is the black text www. copyeditor. com with the red word “radical” inserted so that, edited, it reads www. radicalcopyeditor. com.
Note: Why does this page exist? Because folks who are blind and depend on screen readers can’t tell what’s in an image without a description, and an image like this one deserves a more thorough description than can be provided via alt text. Learn more about web accessibility from WebAIM: Web Accessibility in Mind.