What about the letter 'B' in LQBTQIA+?
With over 600,000 adults in the United Kingdom and over 5 million adults in the United States alone identifying as bisexual, why is bisexuality not taken as seriously as other sexualities?
Bisexuality is a valid sexuality
Bisexuality has been recognised from as early as the 1910's as an attraction to both the male and female gender, or more recently, attraction to more than one gender, yet over 100 years later biphobia is still rampant inside and outside of the LGBTQIA+ community. For decades, bisexual people have been called cruel names such as greedy, indecisive, and often worse simply for being attracted to more than one gender.
A very common and harmful mindset surrounding bisexual people is that a man who is in a relationship with another man must actually be gay and in denial about it, or a woman in a relationship with a woman must be a lesbian and in denial about it. This also applies to people in a relationship with somebody of the opposite gender, they must be straight and lying to themselves and others about their sexuality. This mentality on the surface and at the core of it doesn't actually make any sense considering what it actually means to be bisexual. The very definition of bisexuality is simply an attraction to multiple genders, it does not make sense to question the bisexuality of someone for being in a relationship with a person of the same or opposite gender as they can still be attracted to the opposite gender of their partner without being in a relationship with someone of a different gender. This mindset expects bisexual people to constantly be 'proving' their bisexuality by going back and forth between different gendered partners. It is unfair and it is unreasonable.
Showing anything but support towards your bisexual friends, family or even strangers only damages the LGBTQIA+ movement as a whole. So what can we do about it? The inclusion of education curriculums focusing on sexuality is crucial as it would mean children have the chance to gain an unbiased understanding of sexuality from a young age. On a more personal level, we can choose to support people no matter what their sexuality may be. If you don't understand certain aspects of bisexuality, do your research! Read the stories of bisexual people and their hardships and triumphs while they battle a society that won't take them seriously. Don't be afraid to ask questions, and most importantly, have an open mind.
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