I like that she included a complaint form link. I hope everyone sends a note.

"Gay- and lesbian-baiting" is a little outré even for wildly-diverse Somerville, don't you think? "Fag-baiting" meets the accuracy-in-reporting standard, and would work as a Bay Windows headline, but for Universal Hub it's really too much.

Now "queer" used to be one of those "You're only allowed to say it if you ARE one" words, but these days it's entered mainstream usage among self-identified queer and queer-friendly folk.

So concerns with polite company aside, it's ok for Adam to say. You too, if you like.

"Queer" encompasses many folks who aren't gay or lesbian though. Bisexual folks, transgender folks, genderqueer folks, intersexed folks, androgynous folks, questioning folks, poly folks, and some folks who just don't want such a narrow label, but feel that they fit into the "queer" demographic.

There are universities with queer studies programs, there are networking groups of queer employees, and there are healthcare agencies that present trainings on working effectively with queer clients. Sure, anything's an insult if you shout it at someone and/or combine it with profanity, but no one's doing that with "queer" here.