Transpose at the Barbican – we chat with CN Lester.
Late last year, singer-songwriter and activist CN Lester brought the latest incarnation of their well established event Transpose back to Barbican in London. An evening of spoken word and music in a wrapper of warmth and humor that brings trans and non-binary voices together to share their stories. In December 2017 it’s at the Barbican for the second time, and we are there to see it.
A barbican is a fortified gateway. It seem apt. Trans identities are receiving a lot of attention right now, and, inevitably, a lot of that attention is negative. Whether it be the pearl-clutching histrionics of the Daily Mail, the faux religiosity of Christian Voice or the anti-science whataboutery of so-called ‘radical’ feminists, to be trans is to be subject to an onslaught. To wall in would be deemed reasonable. But a fortification is also a frontier.
Transpose has changed a lot over the… Continue reading
The Biscuit Purple List 2017
Your nominations have been counted, your thoughts have been collected and your faithful Biscuit team has cogitated, confabulated and contemplated every single line you’ve written. It hasn’t been easy, but we are at last ready to present the Biscuit Purple List 2017.
We asked you who inspired you, who made you proud and who you though deserved more recognition than they got, and you answered in your hundreds. You told us you value visibility as much as outreach and community building efforts, with household names like Sara Ramirez, Joe Lycett and Nicola Adams appearing alongside prominent activists like Jen Yockney and Meg-John Barker and community organisers like Sali Owen.
From the worker bees of grassroots organising to the Queer elite, the full gamut of the bi community is represented here. YouTube starlets who educate while they entertain; local group leaders who do so much more than just give us a space to… Continue reading
Incite! Celebrates Bisexuality
London’s premier LGBTQ poetry night marks Bi Visibility Month with an evening dedicated to spoken word art that goes both ways.
Incite!@The Phoenix is the home of LGBTQ+ poetry as diverse as we are, hosted by LGBT Poet Laureate Trudy Howson and taking place monthly in an iconic west end venue.
September’s Incite! celebrates the B in LGBT with performances from Bella Cox and Dan Webber as well as an open mic slot. Admission free. 13th September, Phoenix Artists Club, WC2H.
Activist Strips Off For Visibility
In a photoshoot with photographer Tom Dingley, new activist Lewis Oakley had words projected onto his torso reflecting the biphobic abuse and unreasonable questions bisexual people hear all the time.
The photographer Dingley told The Gay UK, “These comments range from the absent minded questions to the more serious insults bisexuals are subjected to.The concept is really strong we’ve simply taken what is said verbally and projected it visually to highlight what bisexual men hear all the time.”
In fact the phrases used are frequently heard by bisexuals of all genders.
Creator of Rainbow Pride Flag Dies
The designer of the LGBT pride flag, Gilbert Baker has died aged 65.
Baker, who charmingly called himself a “gay Betsy Ross,” was found dead at his New York home today.
Baker’s iconic creation, now a global symbol of the gay rights movement, was first produced in 1978 and comprised eight stripes: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise for magic, blue for peace and purple for spirit. The flag currently in use comprises six stripes, omitting pink and combining purple and turquoise.
The New York Times reports that Baker had recently created 39 nine-stripe flags (the eight original colours, plus lavender to represent diversity) to commemorate the 39th anniversary of the first rainbow flag.
Manchester LGBT Foundation Launches Bi Series
Manchester’s LGBT Foundation today launched a series of events aimed at the bisexual community.
The launch event, which was live-streamed on Facebook, included a talk on the forgotten history of bisexuals in the LGBT movement given by Bisexual Community News editor and recent MBE recipient Jen Yockney.
Speaking to a packed hall, Yockney spoke of the rich and varied history of the bisexual moment, from the erasure faced by the community in the early 1990s – some of which continues today – through protests against Section 28 and right up to the present day.
Great talk by @jenyockney at the #peopleshistorymuseum #Manchester @LGBTfdn busting myths about #bisexuality #biseries #lgbthistorymonth pic.twitter.com/4GXdXl6SIo
— Ellen Graham (@GrahamEllen) February 25, 2017
The event is the first in a series promising a varied programme of events. Check out the full programme here.
WATCH: Evan Rachel Wood Talks About Bisexual Visibility at HRC Gala
Evan Rachel Wood delivered a powerful speech at a Human Rights Campaign Gala event in North Carolina on Saturday, where she was presented with a Visibility Award for her unwavering frankness when it comes to her sexuality.
In the heartrending speech, Wood spoke of feeling isolated and even suicidal when faced with homophobia and biphobia. She also spoke of the power of visibility in a biphobic world.
“Growing up”, she says, “I thought I was like every other girl who had a slight obsession with Jessica Rabbit, KD Laing and Melissa Etheridge … I didn’t realise there was anything different about me”.
“I had no way to put what I felt into words”. “Then one day I heard an actress say the word bisexual”.
Going on to address the health outcomes, intimate partner violence and sexual assault statistics of bisexual people, Wood implored her audience to choose… Continue reading
Giving Up Men is a Slippery Slope
Our Ed Libby thinks they’re missing one vital point.
Since the Gay Liberation movement first found its feet way back in the 1970s it has been asking bi women to call themselves lesbian, seek only relationships with women, and generally refuse to acknowledge their attraction to anyone else. It was, we were told, not fair to muddy the waters with multi-gender attraction. Better to stick to one and make things easy. It was an act of solidarity, they said. Attraction to one gender is just easier for people to understand. After all, weren’t we all working towards the same goal?
Similarly within the feminist movement, both bi- and heterosexuality were, in some quarters, roundly… Continue reading →