Move Over, #MeToo, LGBT Takes the Twitter Limelight With #MeQueer

Move over women and #MeToo movement, the LGBT community wants a piece of the action and their share of the limelight with their very own #MeQueer hashtag to condemn their own experiences of verbal abuse, sexual attack and physical violence.

The whole thing was triggered only by an angry tweet, but by Wednesday it had developed into a global online storm as thousands of LGBT people bombarded Twitter with sharing their stories and using the#MeQueer hashtag.

Hartmut Schrewe, a Brandenburg-based writer, is being credited for being the first to use the #MeQueer hashtag on August 13. He then tweeted: “My husband is my husband and not my buddy. #Homophobia #MeQueer.

Schrewe explained in an interview with Thomson Reuters Foundation that his frustrations for the seeming lack of acceptance for same-sex relationships pushed him to post such a tweet, and thinks of such a hashtag. He shared that a telephone conversation between his husband and a colleague described him as his partner’s “buddy.”

Schrewe said that the otherwise spontaneous tweet and venting of ire took a life of its own, with the response from the gay community. He said: “I had had enough. I wrote about this on Twitter and then the hashtag went viral.”

The responses he has been getting from all over the world has left him awed and overwhelmed. He said: "It is wonderful that so many queer people have shared their experiences. We need to be more visible and loud. I hope this can reach Uganda, where being queer can kill you, or countries like Russia, Indonesia, Iran or Turkey, where being queer is so dangerous.”

Schrewe added: "I never expected #MeQueer to get so big."

Comments the LGBT people have been posting and sharing ranged from criticism of media representation to their beef with society and or straight people to descriptions of assault. Here are some of the examples we saw on Twitter.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I&#39;m so sick and tired about being told I&#39;m only allowed to exist if I do so quietly and don&#39;t disturb heteronormative society invalidating anyone who doesn&#39;t fit the straight and narrow idea of what a human being should be! For fuck&#39;s sake!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MeQueer?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MeQueer</a></p>&mdash; Connie (@ConnieWiegand) <a href="https://twitter.com/ConnieWiegand/status/1030788583924359169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 18, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mequeer?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#mequeer</a><br><br>Being beaten so hard that your nose bleeds like hell for just coming out as trans to your dad.<br><br>Being called He/she/it by your p. E. teacher and being told in front of yr class how you&#39;re an abomination<br><br>Constantly scared that telling a new friend ur trans will kill u</p>&mdash; feliks jean piechatzek (@homolordt) <a href="https://twitter.com/homolordt/status/1030524593570820097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Lgbtq?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Lgbtq</a> in Germany use <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mequeer?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#mequeer</a> to talk about everyday discrimination and mobbing. Maybe this should become international to show how much discrimination is still (or again) happening every day. Please retweet and share.</p>&mdash; Sten Kuth

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We&#39;re all queer here in French tuck city <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MeQueer?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MeQueer</a> <a href="https://t.co/vM6943uaYz">pic.twitter.com/vM6943uaYz</a></p>&mdash; max

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You&#39;re gay? <br>You&#39;re a piece of shit! <br>Go and kill yourself!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mequeer?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Mequeer</a></p>&mdash;

Source:

http://news.trust.org//item/20180822155624-xap18/

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