Locating ‘Queer’: the Linguistic and Spatial Politics of ‘Queer’ in Leeds

This paper outlines the use of the term ‘queer’ in a local, Leeds-based context. I provide an analysis of its use to describe identity and to designate space. I summarise a brief history of ‘queer’ and emphasise the importance of its history on its current uses, employing a Keywords framework, after Raymond Williams. I find that ‘queer’ is a label which is viewed by speakers
as distinct from ‘gay’, and consequently that ‘queer’ spaces are viewed differently from ‘gay’ spaces by those who attend them. I employ Vernacular Theory to forefront the language use of real speakers in Leeds, using ten long-form, semi-structured interviews as the method to gain participant perspectives on the use of ‘queer’. Additionally, I use a Linguistic Landscapes
framework to analyse the signs I document within Wharf Chambers, a space locally interpreted as a ‘queer space’. I argue that ‘queer’ is mutually intelligible in a local context, despite maintaining multiplicity and resisting definition. I conclude that there is a political program associated with identification with the ‘queer’ label in Leeds, and that these politics are consistently represented throughout the interview perspectives and in the Linguistic Landscape of Wharf Chambers.