Wow, great question, thank you for asking it.
"Queer" is a paradox. It is a label that refusals to provide any information. So why put anything? It's beause it's an important rejection of a system - a system that think's it's important to label people's sexualities. Queer people are not gay, not straight, not bi, not lesbian, not pan, not questioning, not confused, not trans. None of that. Queer is a refusal to identify. Some identify as queer, because, it's none of your business. Some identify as queer, as a protest of the limiting nature of identities themselves. Some see queer as the best way to resist the marginalization associated with certain identities.
I identify as queer for all of those reasons, plus, as Ashly points out, it is not relevant to the business I am building.
However, visibility is important. It is important for young women to see Ashly and realize, yes, women can build successful businesses.
The LGBTQ community is invisible to the naked eye unlike gender, unlike skin color, unlike age, unlike race. So "Queer" provides visibility to each other, without subjecting us to all the crap that comes with the labels.
So yes. The conversation is just about me, being a founder, not an identity.
Queer has been around for about 40 years, so, what Ashly is doing is not exactly new.
But because queer is a paradox label, is also a signal to the LGBTQ that still struggle in this world that we can be successful, that it gets better, and that the rigged homophobic and heteronormative discourse are on their last breath.
Ashly's beautiful photo shoot has the same paradox in it too, she's obviously a female founder. You can't cross it out. It's not invisible. She still represents a strong and successful woman, doing what she loves, and still is a role model for all those young and marginalized / struggling women out there.
The word queer, is exactly the same type of paradox, because, LGBTQ people are otherwise completely invisible.
If you think about it, even straight people can refuse to identify, and be queer too.
