“So are you gay or straight?” Words uttered to me on what would seem like a daily basis to me. “Do you prefer men or women?” Like there is no other choice in this world (and erasing non binary identities at the same time) “No one really is bi, they just haven’t decided yet?!” Because I’m forced to decide where I need to be on the great sexuality spectrum.
Christopher Biggins has finally pointed out the great elephant in the room. Gay men can be just as biphobic and queerphobic as straight people can be. For years we have been saying that most of our abuse actually stems from the lesbian and gay community and no one believed us till the summer of 2016 when Biggins walked into the big brother house and was vile against the bi community. For everyone who thought he was kicked out because of these comments, he wasn’t. He was kicked out for being antisemitic. Whilst I’m glad he was kicked out for it, he should have been removed days previously.
Now this isn’t just about him. The world is filled with people claiming that bisexuality isn’t real. That you can’t just love who you want to, regardless of gender presentation or connection. We are only “legitimate” in prides and parades if we have someone that “appears” to be the same sex (shudders) as us. We are told that if we have a partner of a different gender that we are not part of the LGBT community.
Guess what? What do you think the B actually stands for? Bigoted? Bullshit? No its fucking bisexual! You are still bisexual regardless of what gender your partner/s is at the time. You don’t suddenly turn straight or gay because yout partner is a different gender from the one before. I once got told to leave an LGBT service in Brighton for under 26s because I was getting married to someone of a different gender then me, and that stopped me from being bisexual. This was coming from staff and a well known gay person in Brighton who has been on TV and ironicly tried to also go on Big Brother. This is also the same man who believes pride is only for gay people.
People wonder why Bicon exists every year. Its simple, if you get abuse from all directions, you want to have your own safe space forged out for you. Prides do nothing to help bi people, straight people think bisexuals are slutty and were stuck in the middle wanting to just have fun and party with the rest of the queer people. Accessibility to queer events is shit at the best of times, but if you are treated like shit because of your sexuality, of course no one wants to attend. Here’s a tip, if bi people keep asking you to have meetings to talk about how accessible they can be, actually fucking listen.
For once people need to stop thinking that LGBT is for monosexuality and money. Queer people are broke, mental health problems are common in the bisexual community and access to services are piss poor because of either assumption on sexual activity or people are refused because they are not straight/gay.
Basically everyone needs to stop being a dick and remember that the B is in LGBT for a reason.
Tyler Charles Austen 