Here’s why:

- “slay” and “yasss” are both terms that originated in vogue/ball culture amongst Black queer people (predominantly sex workers and trans women). if you’re a white person… they’re not your words to use (and especially not if you don’t even acknowledge the history). Read more here: https://dailycal.org/2022/06/26/the-origins-of-slay

And here: https://www.theindy.org/article/2636

Tribe: As an Aboriginal person this really really upsets me… seeing queer folks (and any non First Nations folks) call their group of friends/community their “tribe” is so harmful. Here is why: “Tribe” is an Indigenous term, it describes a very specific group of people in Indigenous culture. Not only is it specific but it also has a lot of emotion attached to it for our people because many of us have been forced off our lands through colonisation, subjected to genocide, and pressured to assimilate into the white culture.
So for a white person to use “tribe” without any cultural or familial relationship to this history of Indigenous peoples is harmful cultural appropriation.
“Tribe” means family and community and I get why white people like the term but it’s not their term to use.
So when someone who has no connection to the history of being colonized and subjected to violent, forced assimilation, uses the term it becomes appropriative, insensitive and harmful to those of us who’ve lived that life and use the word in recognition of that and as part of our culture - a culture that white people don’t have.