It's Bisexual Visibility Day! And it's right in the middle of National Bisexual Awareness Week, which hopes to increase bisexual awareness and acceptance with events around the country. It's such a good thing because bisexuals get a lot of hate. (And that's before getting to people who don't acknowledge that bisexuality exists.)
According to the #biweek website, "Statistics show quite clearly that bisexual people report higher levels of physical and mental health disparities, sexual and domestic violence, and poverty than gays and lesbians. Often these disparities can be attributed to bisexual discrimination and anti-bisexual bias. Wendy Bostwick’s study on microaggressions against bisexual people points out that many of these negative interactions are initiated by lesbian and gay people, so it is not surprising that Pew research has shown that bisexual people report much lower levels of feeling connected to the LGBTQ community."
It's tough stuff. But luckily, it's also changing. There's more acknowledgement and celebration of bisexuals in the mainstream. And that's great— why wouldn't you want to celebrate it? I love being bi. It just means more chances to spread the love around.
So here are nine awesome quotes about bisexuality. Because we should have all the awesomeness we want.
1. "You know what I hate most of all in the whole wide world? ... More than people who think that if you're bisexual, it means you'll fuck absolutely anyone (especially them)?”
― Alan Cumming, Tommy's Tale
2. “The world is so obsessed with defining sexuality for everyone and attaching labels to it. Any time any person openly leaves the sexual norm, their sexuality becomes, more often than not, the absolute defining characteristic of that person. It becomes the first thing people think about, and often the first thing they mention. Every other part of that person all but disappears.”
― Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing
3. "To those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, let me say: You are not alone. Your struggle for the end to violence and discrimination is a shared struggle. Today, I stand with you. And I call upon all countries and people to stand with you, too. A historic shift is underway. We must tackle the violence, decriminalize consensual same-sex relationships, and end discrimination. We must educate the public. I call on this council and people of conscience to make this happen. The time has come.”
― Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in his video message to the Human Rights Council
4. “Either you’re bisexual or you’re not. You can’t have it both ways. ”
—Jarod Kintz, The Merits of Marthaism, and How Being Named Susan Can Benefit You
5. “When did the skin on our bodies, the difference in our voice, or the direction our heart takes us decide whether or not we should have human rights?”
― Isabella Poretsis, Twitter
6. "When I date women now, I have learned to simply not care what they think about it. I’m the same person I always have been. Faithful. Dependable. Kind. Sweet. Funny. Awesome. And if they want to discount me because of something as insignificant and irrelevant as me experiencing attraction to men as well, then they don’t get me in their lives. They don’t deserve me.”
― Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing
7. "The one thing that is sort of sneered at and not really believed is bisexuality. Any bisexual man is just seen as a closeted gay man. That shows how narrow-minded people are. The other thing that's totally neglected and which nobody approves of is celibacy. People again assume that you're just repressing something."
— Edmund White, The Guardian
8. "I'm Anna Paquin. I'm bisexual, and I give a damn.
— Anna Paquin, PSA
9. "Remember, bisexuality doesn't mean halfway between gay and straight. It is its own identity."
— Evan Rachel Wood, Bisexual Awareness Week
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