It's never a nice word.

I think one of the stupidest arguments today is that the word "queer" is an acceptable appellation for anyone who's gay. Many gays argue that they are just claiming for themselves a word that was once used against them and by doing so they empower themselves. What bullshit! The word queer was  and remains an insult. Queer means eccentric, weird, odd, peculiar, and any number of other unflattering terms. It is a word that is spat in complete derision at millions of bullied teens. It is an ugly word and the fact that so many masochistic homosexuals embrace it does not make it acceptable. If queer is an approved synonym for gay, then you might as well bring back words like retard, cripple, moron, gimp, and dozens of other insulting terms with the rationale that those afflicted should embrace these cruel epithets, not as demeaning insults, but as a way to empower themselves.  In short, use the same idiotic, delusional argument that so many gay men and groups use who believed that the demeaning word "queer" is a swell word to define who they are.