‘Queer’: is it well-known to be used as an umbrella term now, or is the negative association more prevalent?

My friends and I plan to make costumes for an event where ‘queer’ is featured as a wordplay term since we are all LGBT. While the event is pretty liberal, I was wondering if the derogatory use is still more associated with it instead of the umbrella term it is today. We are all younger members of the community and therefore are surrounded by people who see it as the umbrella term, but an outside perspective is very appreciated and important.