I think this is a neat idea and at least worth talking about among the queer/LGBTQ+ community! I think I ultimately disagree with its usage, for the reasons listed below, but I think it's an interesting opportunity and I know I might be overlooking something, so I wanted to encourage others to provide their own input.
My first instinct was that it's worth giving a shot, at least as a replacement for "LGBTQ+" and all its variants. It's a lot shorter and easier to say out loud, which I think gives it more power as a means of communication. But it also borrows the most memorable part of "LGBTQ+", which is already a commonly recognized term, so I think it'd be easier to transition to that than most other proposed replacement acronyms.
But there is another issue that comes to mind, which is that "queer" is already a shorthand way of saying "LGBTQ+", in terms of being inclusive of as many people as possible. "Q+" is basically saying "queer and other indentities", but what is that actually saying? As the OP implies, it's saying "queer identities that aren't comfortable using 'queer' to describe themselves." This gets into asking why some people aren't comfortable using "queer" to identify themselves.
One of the primary reasons is that, yes, "queer" can be used as a slur. I don't have a lot of personal experience with it being used that way, but I want to be considerate of queer people who have. All the same, I think it's worth fighting to have it as a reclaimed slur, because the fewer people there are who see it as a slur, the less power it gives bigots over us.
Still, it gets a little complicated when we're talking about what term cishet people use to refer to us when they want to talk about us in a non-bigoted way. Is it okay for them to use "queer"? In my opinion, yes, it is, so long as they're careful to use it only to refer to people who self-identify as "queer". Again, I'd rather cishet people not even have the power to be able to use it as a slur, so I'd definitely like them to be able to use it the regular way. But would cishet people be comfortable with that, more than "Q+"? Well, I'll get to that in a minute.
The other reason I can think of for people in the LGBTQ+ umbrella to not feel comfortable using "queer" to identify themselves is because they think the term is too inclusive. I've definitely seen some personal accounts of division within the community, of lesbians and gay people who aren't comfortable with trans people, or who don't think identities like "bisexual" or "asexual" are real identities. I don't agree with any of that, and I want to discourage that line of thinking. I feel "queer" is a more solid and powerful acknowledgment that we're all part of the same family.
But this is all just commentary on how I feel the way I do, there's still going to be people who are uncomfortable with using the term "queer" for one reason or another, and they will decide on their own to use a different term. In this sense, isn't "Q+" still an improvement over "LGBTQ+"? Well...
For me, the final, ideal goal is for everyone to be using the term "queer" as a positive thing. It's an end goal where there's as little division between us as possible, and a goal where wider society no longer thinks of us as gross. I think it creates a healthier, freer, more inclusive environment for everyone. I would like to do whatever it takes to get there. So for me, it's a question of if "Q+" is a good stepping stone on the way there.
And, well... I feel like that's a rather incrementalist approach, and I haven't been too happy with the idea of incrementalism these past few years.
More to the point, while "LGBTQ+" is a commonly recognized term, I feel that "queer" is getting to be that way also, if it isn't already. I at least know it's already an accepted term within academic circles, and I feel like that gets us most of the way to making it a normalized thing even among cishet people. So I feel like "Q+" is making concessions we don't have to make.
So while it could be said that "Q+" could be a useful stepping stone on the way from "LGBTQ+" to "queer", I fear that cishet people are more likely to see "Q+" as a more socially acceptable alternative to "queer", when they were already using "queer", and I don't want them making that decision for us.
There is power in the sheer bluntness of "queer". Cishet people may be afraid to use the word because they think it implies that we're disgusting--however, I believe that this fear is tied to a subconscious idea in their minds that we are disgusting for being what we are. For actual queer people, I want to think most of us understand that we were always beautiful, and so this word used to describe us was always associated with something beautiful, too--regardless of whether the people using it ever understood that or not.
Asking cishet people to use "queer", to me, is asking them to acknowledge this fundamental truth. We are everything that made bigots afraid of us--we're different, we're varied, we don't fit strict social boxes. Bigots say this is a reason to disown us, we say it's everything that makes us valuable. Cishets shouldn't say that we aren't everything bigots say we are... We are a lot of those things, and a lot more, and it's a good thing. And embracing it can help cishet people to grow, too, and help us all be closer to each other.
So I'm gonna keep using "queer" as much as I can when talking about these things. But, in hopes of being in tune with the community, if "Q+" starts catching on as a term, I might start using it from time to time, too. I will just continue to see "queer" as the end goal, at least until the social implications of the term change and we have to start using some other word instead.
