Dive Brief:

• A jobseeker was upset to find Colorado College asking an optional question with "queer" as a choice for gender.
• John Kichi was angry enough about that choice to send a complaint to Colorado's attorney general.
• The school says it realizes the term is used as a slur by some but says that some people have reclaimed it and use it to describe themselves.

Dive Insight:

This is an interesting issue that may come down to one thing: age. Kichi is 66. A local gay rights organization describes "queer" as a word "in transition" and says that youth often embrace it. The school sees itself as progressive and welcoming, and its intentions were almost certainly good, but the dust-up is an example of the power of word choice.