I was reading an article on the promulgation of the dental dam as a means of preventing sexually transmitted disease. Article here. The author of the article Arielle Duhaime-Ross consistently refers to lesbian women as "queer women".
Up until now, it had been my understanding that this term was a pejorative and insulting to homosexuals. That it implies their choice of lifestyle to be strange and aberrant. So, I was rather surprised to see this term being bandied about in a reasonably respectable online tech and lifestyle reporting website.
Shows like "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" notwithstanding, it just didn't strike me as proper in the format.
Ms. Duhaime-Ross does not have a biography that I could find on her website. I couldn't discern if she, herself, is a lesbian and is using a preferred nomenclature. Or, if it is a term only used amongst "members of the club" similar to African American usage of the n-word.
I decided to post it here, hoping to better understand the protocol about the term. My motivation is to be able to address people as they wish to be addressed.