FACT SHEET: BISEXUALITY

 

 

Bisexuality is the capacity for physical, romantic and/or emotional attraction to more than one gender. A bisexual identity affirms a reality beyond dualistic categories of sexual orientation and challenges the privileging of single-gender orientation. bisexuals are a part of and apart from heterosexual society and the lesbian and gay communities and movement.

Bisexuals come from all social, economic, and cultural strata. It is difficult to estimate how many bisexuals there are because most studies on sexuality have focused on heterosexuals or homosexuals. Some studies have looked at both, but usually with the assumption that bisexuals do not exist as a category. In such cases, bisexuals are counted as either homosexual or heterosexual depending on the gender of their partner.

History

Bisexuals began organizing social and support groups in several US cities in the early 1970s. By the early to mid-1980s, bisexual political action groups formed to combat stereotypes and to give a voice to bisexual people and their issues. Some of these groups and many bisexual activists were publicly aligned and/or worked with the gay, people of color, and feminist movements.

Bisexuals and HIV

Bisexuals were among those first and most severely affected by AIDS. HIV/AIDS exposed the fluid nature of sexuality and the disparity between homo- and heterosexual identity categories and behavior. Because bisexuality is outside these either/or categories, bisexually identified people have been told they don't exist and have been scapegoated as carriers of HIV. In response to these defamations, the early bisexual politic emphasized visibility and inclusion.

Visibility

Bisexuals achieved unprecedented visibility and recognition at the 1993 March On Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. For the first time bisexuals were included in the title of the March and were represented on the stage by a bisexual activist and author. The 1990s have been a time of national and international consolidation. Since the beginning of the decade, there have been two national and three international bisexual conferences with nearly 2000 participants from 11 countries.