The original meaning (and still the formal meaning) of 'queer' is actually 'strange' or 'weird'. The excerpt is probably from a few decades ago or was written/spoken within a formal context. The new, more common meaning of 'queer' was born from old beliefs of a prejudiced society, where homossexual people were considered to be 'weird', therefore it's a pejorative term, and it's generally not received well by the homessexual community. As the word 'gay', which originally means 'glad', but with time had its meaning changed first colloquially, then gramatically ('glad' does not imply a pejorative connotation, however).
So the meaning of the stanza wouldn't change it the words mentioned were used intead.
Answer:
D.All of the above
Explanation:
It emphasizes the strangeness of the contrast. It slows the reader down to really emphasize “queer”. It makes that word stand out from the others. Therefore, the answer is All of the above.
