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.
“I feel tolerated, but very rarely more than that” – Being Bi on the Scene
Bisexual people were very nearly edged out of the Pride parade all together; a Guardian columnist (who can tell Divine Gender Identity without asking, even in dimly-lit London clubs) told a group of self-identified bisexual and queer people to stop dancing and kissing so aggressively in a gay space, before writing about it in the national media.
Exclusion is an experience that is ubiquitous among the bisexual community. As well as the obvious exclusion same-gender attracted people face from heterosexual society, bisexuals often can’t find refuge within LGBTQ created partly by and for them.
Although this phenomena is widely written about in the bisexual community, as is the imbalance of the effects being excluded from society has over being excluded from the feeble resources allotted to the LGBTQ community, it’s important that when these kind of incidents happen we take the time reflect on the prejudices we still… Continue reading
Activist Self-Care (Without the Bubble Bath and Puppies)
Every day, at least one person in my life asks me how I’m doing. My reply is usually some version of “I’m tired,” and they’ll laugh before moving on to other things.
It’s funny to some because I’m a young, active person and I’m supposed to have enough energy to be able to live my life, do my job, and keep up with school/my internship, while still having enough energy to do miscellaneous tasks throughout my day.
When I tell people all the things I do they get more understanding, but I’m still met with the occasional chuckle as I say, “I’m going to work in an hour, I’m going to take a nap”. The truth is,… Continue reading
Coming Out Sucked: How Biphobia Ruined My Coming Out
Coming out in the new millennium is nothing like it was for our predecessors, or we’re told. For them coming out was fearful and even dangerous. For us it should be a joyous occasion. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Biphobia, both external and internal, can make coming out just as hard as it ever was. Here, Alex takes us through her journey.
Coming out sucked.
I remember looking out over the black water as I stood in my favourite thinking place – a now eerily empty and quiet park on my way home in Berlin – and saying those three magical words for the first time: I am bisexual.
The thing is, they didn’t feel magical at all. I spat them out like bile rising in my throat. They never soared, they fell right back down on me, paralysing me with fear and dread. Those three words were… Continue reading
Five Ways You Can Look After Bi Mental Health
Bisexual Mental Health Month (BMHM) may feel long over, but that doesn’t mean you need to wait another year to discuss the sweeping mental health issues facing the bi+ community, or to feel guilt-free about focusing on your own mental health troubles. Here are a few things bi+ people and our allies can do to help safeguard the mental health of the bi+ community.
BMHM is an American campaign that runs throughout March to raise awareness of the mental health issues facing the bisexual community. Due to its online presence, it’s beginning to become internationally observed. But mental health doesn’t isn’t just an issue once a year. Here’s how you can look after yours, and others, all year round.
Find bi+ friendly support
Unfortunately, many bisexual people have difficulty getting support for their mental health issues, despite having some of the worse mental health stats in the LGBT+ community.… Continue reading
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.
Dear Straight Couples
Dear couples of OKCupid, Plenty of Fish, and Tinder
I am not your unicorn. I’m not interested in threesomes. I don’t want to share my body with people I neither know, nor trust. I’m not going to show up at your apartment with lingerie beneath my trenchcoat and play out your girl/girl/boy fantasy. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy group sex, I just don’t enjoy you, or your approach to it.
I understand that as an unpartnered polyamorous bisexual, I’m expected to be available for casual group sex any time, any place, with as little as an hour’s notice. And to that, I say, “Fuck you, pay me.” I am completely uninterested in casual sex with strangers, and since my profile is quite clear about that, it baffles me that you’d persist in asking.
Why do so many of you insist on rudely propositioning single women online for threesomes?… Continue reading
Raising Our Standards: How to Get Your Local Council to Fly the Bi Flag
It may only be February, but bi activists up and down the country are already planning their activities for Bi Visibility Day 2017, and getting our flag raised is on most of their agendas. But how do they do it?
After successfully hoisting the bisexual flag over Oxford in 2016, Stephanie talks us through the steps.
This is a photo of the Bi flag flying proudly over Oxford Town Hall for the first time on Bisexual Visibility Day 2016. Since I began lobbying councillors and senior staff to make this happen I have acquired a detailed and unprecedented knowledge of flag flying protocol at Oxford City Council, (OCC). Not every council is the same, but most are at least similar. Here’s my handy ‘how to’ guide should any other bi activists feel inspired to give it a go.
Realise it will take time
I first had the idea to do… Continue reading
Apologising 101
We’re all wrong sometimes. The key to our character lies in how we cope with that. An apology can go a long way to righting our wrongs, but, says El, only if we mean it.
I had some, shall we say, ‘interesting’ interactions with another writer a few days ago. Now, I can’t say I take criticism perfectly myself, I’m a human being, I get defensive. I think almost everyone does. However, there are ways to deal with criticism, and this writer chose one of the worst. They felt it necessary to engage in a very public, rather unbecoming, debacle that took the form of a facebook thread.
I usually try to stay out of such things unless there’s a potential story in it, or some genuine discussion to be had, as changing the minds of strangers on the internet is generally only worthwhile if one is being paid… Continue reading
“My Sexuality is Relevant to All Parts of My Life”: Parenting while Bisexual