The bisexual community consists mainly of people who are bisexual, pansexual or queer-identified, and their allies. Alternate terms include bisexual/pansexual community, bi/pan/fluid community, and queer-identified community.
A common concern among people involved with the bisexual community is discrimination against bisexual people; two specific forms are biphobia and bisexual erasure.
People who identify as bisexual as well subcatigories such as as fluid and pansexual are in the peculiar situation of receiving hatred, distrust, stereotyping, or denial, called biphobia and bisexual erasure, from elements of both the straight and gay populations. There are of course some elements of general anti-LGBT feelings along with misunderstandings. Some insist that people who identify themselves as bisexual/fluid/pansexual people are unsure of their true feelings, that they are experimenting or going through a "phase," and that they eventually will or should "decide" or "discover" which (singular) gender they are sexually attracted to. [1] [2] [3]
However, there is also increasing support, inclusion, and visibility in both communities, especially in the LGBT community. [4] [5] [6] [7][8] [9]
Contents |
Defining the Community
The social networks of some bisexual people, sometimes called gay- or lesbian-identified bisexuals, are heavily concentrated inside the LGBT communities. But others, sometimes called straight-identified bisexuals, may rarely participate in LGBT culture. And still others choose to maintain their primary social contacts mainly with other bisexual/fluid/pansexual and queer-identified people.
There has been talk of and more of a movement to have a separate bisexual community, also known as the bisexual/pansexual community and/or the bi/pan/fluid community. [10][11][12]
A series of communities and groups have been working together and focusing on issues that are important to the bi/pan/fluid community/communities, such as biphobia, dating, coming out, bisexuals in the news and entertainment, and bisexual erasure, among several other issues. These are queer identified and closely allied with the gay, lesbian, and transgender communities, but their main focus is the bisexual community. [13] [14][15]There has also been a movement to combat biphobia and myths about bisexuals.[16][17]
The bi community/communities tend to have many of their own events/conferences, [18][19][20] publications, [21][22] websites and organizations, [23] [24] magazines,[25] [26][27] [28][21] [22] writer's groups, [29] media, [30] leaders and politicians, [31] [32] and even Mental Health Assocations. [33]
These communities come together with the Gay and Lesbian and Transgender communities for bigger LGBT events such as LGBT pride parades, civil rights marches and advocacy, some conferences, and other nationwide causes where the interests of the communities intersect, such as the National Equality March. There are bisexual/pansexual/fluid groups in several cities. [34] [35]
Many LGBT conferences now have separate seminars on bisexual and transgender topics and several LGBT pride parades in many cities now include a bi/pan/fluid section of the parade as well. [36] [37]
Heterosexual and homosexual people can often be included in the bisexual community, and are typically termed as allies, "straight-but-not-narrow", bi-friendly or bi-inclusive as they often support political rights and social dignity for bi/fluid/pan & queer people. Individual bi/pan/fluid communities and the community in general also tends to be welcoming of transgender, intersex, asexual, polysexual, bi-gender, gender-queer, polyamorous, queer, and questioning people.
September 23rd is known as "Bisexual Pride Day"
A Rose by Any Other Name Series, Participation in the National Equality March and Amy Andre
There is currently a bisexual "webisode" series known as "A Rose By Any Other Name" [38] being released on YouTube that was directed by Independent film director and bisexual rights advocate Kyle Schickner of Fencesitter Films. [39] The plot of the series centers around a lesbian identified woman who falls in love with a straight man, and goes on to realize she is actually bisexual, and the reaction of both her friends and her boyfriend's friends. [40]
The National Equality March was a national political rally that occurred October 11, 2009 in Washington, D.C.. It called for equal protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The march was called for by LGBT activist Cleve Jones, and organized by Equality Across America and the Courage Campaign. Kip Williams and Robin McGehee served as co-directors. This was the first national march in Washington, D.C. for LGBT rights since the 2000 Millennium March.
There was a specific Bisexual/Pansexual/Queer identified contingent that was organized to be a part of the march, [41] Several Bisexual groups came together and marched, including the DC Bi Women,BiMA DC, The New York Area Bisexual Network and Binet USA. The organizations marching together was an effort to improve bisexual visibility. [42] There were four out bisexual speakers at the National Equality March Rally: Michael Huffington, Lady GaGa, Chloe Noble, [43] and Penelope Williams. [44]
In October of 2009, bisexual activist Amy Andre [45] was appointed as executive director of the San Francisco Pride Celebration Committee, further aiding in the long-term goal of bi-visibility. [46]
References
- ^ Michael Musto, April 7, 2009. |Ever Meet a Real Bisexual?, The Village Voice.
- ^ "Lesbian Life About Bisexuality". http://lesbianlife.about.com/b/2009/04/01/bisexuality-101.htm.
- ^ "We Have Some Bones to Pick About the end of Angela and Roxie". http://www.afterellen.com/blog/we-have-some-bones-to-pick-about-the-end-of-angela-and-roxie.
- ^ "Queers United". http://queersunited.blogspot.com/.
- ^ "Task Force Report On Bisexuality". http://www.thetaskforce.org/issues/bisexuality.
- ^ "HRC article on bisexuality". http://www.hrc.org/issues/coming_out/bisexual/bisexual_articles.asp?listpage=2.
- ^ "GLAAD TV Report". http://glaadbackup.com/2009/documents/GLAADNRI2009.pdf.
- ^ Maria, September 24, 2009. How Far Have We Come?, BiSocial News
- ^ "[1]Thirteen On House". http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2008/10/27/greys-anatomy-s-3/][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen_(House).
- ^ Peter Ruggerio, July 1, 2009. Where the Community Is, BiSocial News
- ^ Maria, May 20, 2009. A Space to Call Our Own, BiSocial News
- ^ Adrienne Williams, May 26, 2009. "Got Bisexual Bars?", BiSocial News
- ^ Maria, September 24, 2009. How Far Have We Come?, BiSocial News
- ^ Adrienne Williams, September 23, 2009. |BSN Celebrates Bisexual Day: Moves into Activism, BiSocial News
- ^ "Bi Social Events". http://bisocialnews.com/bi-social-events.
- ^ "BinetUSA writes about biphobia". http://binetusa.blogspot.com/search/label/biphobia.
- ^ Maria, May 7, 2009. Bisexuals, the Hetero-Privilege Myth, BiSocial News
- ^ "BiCon UK". http://bicon.org.uk.
- ^ "Because Conference". http://www.becauseconference.org.
- ^ "Bi Camp USA". http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bicamp.
- ^ a b "The Fence". http://www.thefence.ca.
- ^ a b "Bi Women Boston". http://biwomenboston.org/newsletter.
- ^ "Binet USA". http://www.binetusa.org.
- ^ "Bi Resource Center". http://www.biresource.net.
- ^ "Bi Magazine". http://www.bimagazine.org.
- ^ "BiSocial News". http://www.bisocialnews.com.
- ^ "Bi Community UK". http://www.bicommunitynews.co.uk/.
- ^ "Bi Community Netherlands". http://community.livejournal.com/lnbi_berichten.
- ^ "Bi Writers Assocation". http://www.biwriters.org/indexN1.html.
- ^ "Bi Media". http://www.binetusa.org/Pages/BiLinks.html.
- ^ "Robyn Ochs". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_Ochs.
- ^ Maria, August 11, 2009.Micah Kellner, New York's Openly Bisexual Assemblyman,BiSocial News.
- ^ "Bi Mental Health Group". http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BiMHP/.
- ^ "BinetUSA Group link". http://www.binetusa.org/Pages/network.html.
- ^ "BinetUSA Media". http://www.binetusa.org/Pages/BiLinks.html.
- ^ "Bipride LA". http://www.ambilosangeles.com/AMBI%20at%20Pride%202008.html.
- ^ "Bipride NYC". http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20015&id=7375679582.
- ^ "Rose By Any Other Name". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKZoCaVZu3c.
- ^ "Fencesitter Films". http://www.fencesitterfilms.com.
- ^ "From Out Bi Director Kyle Schickner". http://binetusa.blogspot.com/2009/10/from-out-bi-director-kyle-schickner.html.
- ^ "Bi/Pan March Contingent". http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/4413172.
- ^ Maria, October 15, 2009. "My Experience at the National Equality March", BiSocial News.
- ^ "Young Bisexual-Queer Identified LGBT Activist Fights for Homeless LGBT Youth". http://binetusa.blogspot.com/2009/10/national-equality-march-young-bisexual.html.
- ^ Maria, October 9, 2009. Bisexual Voices Speak Out on National Equality March, BiSocial News.
- ^ "Amy Andre to head San Fransisco Pride". http://binetusa.blogspot.com/2009/10/out-bisexual-amy-andre-to-head-san.html.
- ^ Adrienne Williams, October 19, 2009. Interview with Amy Andre: New Bisexual Executive Director of SF Pride, BiSocial News.
 |
This article about lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender topics is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Additional Resources for the Bisexual Community
Civil Rights Organizations
BinetUSA(USA)
Political Activist Group (USA)
Links
Magazines
Bi Magazine (USA)
Bi Community News (UK)
BiSocial News (USA)
Bi News Magazine (Netherlands)
The Fence (Canada)
Bi Women Boston (USA)
Groups
Books
Bi Any Other Name : Bisexual People Speak Out by Loraine Hutchins, Editor & Lani Ka'ahumanu, Editor ISBN 1-55583-174-5
Getting Bi : Voices of Bisexuals Around the World by Robyn Ochs, Editor & Sarah Rowley, Editor ISBN 0-9653881-4-X
The Bisexual Option by Fritz Klein, MD ISBN 1-56023-033-9
Bi America : Myths, Truths, And Struggles Of An Invisible Community by William E. Burleson ISBN 978-1-56023-478-4
Bisexuality in the United States : A Social Science Reader by Paula C. Rodriguez Rust, Editor ISBN 0-231-10226-7
Bisexuality : The Psychology and Politics of an Invisible Minority by Beth A. Firestein, Editor ISBN 0-8039-7274-1
Current Research on Bisexuality by Ronald C. Fox PhD, Editor ISBN 978-1-56023-288-5
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
