I wonder if many Americans know that “Queer As Folk” is a pun. It refers to an old northern English saying: “There’s nowt so queer as folk.” Nowt means nothing.

It’s what you’d say if you saw someone do something really weird or strange. As if to say “humans are quite the weird-ass species, aren’t we?”

My core issue with using the word unironically is that I do not want my humanity to be described as weird. Because it isn’t. It’s as human as any heterosexual’s. Not the usual but not strange either. Virtually normal.

I made the case for this understanding of homosexuality thirty years ago. There’s a reason I’m resisting the re-queering of gay men and lesbians.