Bringing bisexual voices together
For the last three years, I have been working as a bi volunteer and activist in Leeds. Throughout that time, I have been thrilled by the increase in bi inclusion, both for bi specific events, like Bi Visibility Day, and at events for the wider LGBT+ community, like Leeds Pride.
This year, Leeds Pride was bigger and better than ever. Leeds Bi Group was invited to participate by running a stall at Leeds Queer Film Fest’s film night on the Friday evening and Leeds City Council’s Pride marketplace at the City Museum on the Saturday.
Leeds Bi Group also secured funding from Leeds Pride’s community fund and a free venue from Leeds Cosmopolitan Hotel to enable us to run a Pre Pride Bi+ Brunch on the morning of the big march. A great time was had by all with excellent food and service from the hotel, face painting, placard making and generally getting into the Pride spirit. We had dozens of attendees kicking off Leeds Pride Sunday with a celebration of bisexuality before the group joined the LGBT+ parade to welcome cheers from the crowds.
Groups and organisations in Leeds and the rest of Yorkshire have already been
supporting Bi Visibility Day by joining the social media thunderclap (see blog post: http://www.freedomquarter.com/lgbtblog/bi-visibility- day), within days the social media reach was already set to reach 1.8 million on Twitter!
There has also been support for BiCon (see blog post:
http://www.freedomquarter.com/lgbtblog/2017/1/20/bicon-is- coming-to-
leeds?rq=bicon) with Leeds City Council funding free tote bags for all attendees and MESMAC getting involved with free sexual health testing.
Bicon, Leeds - Thursday 10th – Sunday 13th of August 2017
Lea, a member of Leeds Bi Group recently commented that Leeds City Council have definitely stepped up their game within the last few years, showing support online as well as ensuring bi+ inclusion at their events:
“…It has been refreshing to watch over the last couple of years how Leeds is finally starting to wake up, to embrace me and others like me, to realise we have needs, we have lives, but more importantly, Leeds City Council have started to notice us, include us, embrace us and give our being a voice within our city.”
I still recognise that all is not perfect: I still hear stories of health professionals being dismissive of their patient’s bisexuality, biphobia within some of the LGBT bars and inequality of funding for some services. However, amazing progress has been made and I’m excited to see what the next three years have in store.
Each year, the bi+ community and their allies' fight to tackle bi invisibility and erasure is highlighted annually on Bi Visibility Day, 23rd September.
This is a chance to celebrate, educate and shout from the roof tops. One way of doing this (and a nice, easy way to offer your support) is to join the yearly thunderclap: a social media tool where you sign up to a prewritten message with your Twitter or Facebook account which then publishes the message on the 23rd.
Last year the Bi Visibility Day thunderclap reached its minimum of 100 supporters after a few weeks, this year it was obtained within 48 hours of going live! The momentum is very encouraging, with a month and a half still to go, the more support the better. Last year #BiVisibilityDay trended 2nd on Twitter; let's see if we can beat that this year?
To join the thunderclap, follow this link and register with your social media accounts: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/60029-it-s-bi-visibility-day that's all it takes!
If you would like to find out more ways to get involved with Bi Visibility Day, email leedsbigroup@gmail.com. You can also find events in your area (and worldwide) at www.bivisibilityday.com.
Leeds Beckett University held their first Campus Pride at the beginning of LGBT History Month this year.
Running a stall there for Leeds Bi Group, it was great to see a mix of student societies plus the Council, Mesmac and others. I had a great day chatting to students, staff and visitors about bisexuality and why events like this are so important, as well as stealing a number of Trans Society’s pronoun badges!
As well as promoting LGBTQ* inclusivity, the Leeds Beckett Student Union also used this platform to launch their Bye Biphobia! campaign. There was a heavy bi contingent with BiCon, Leeds Bi Group and the Bye Biphobia! stall in a row near the Leslie Silver building entrance on City Campus. The student stall was giving out free pink, purple and blue ribbons to passers-by imploring them to “take a stand against biphobia on campus”. They also gave out a large number of flyers with information about biphobia and the upcoming campaign.
However, their fight against biphobia does not end there! We met with some of the Student Unions reps from the student LGBTQ* Society to discuss the next steps for the campaign. As well as developing a survey for students to collate experiences of biphobia, they are also planning some focus groups in the future on the same theme.
It’s wonderful to see a prominent university taking biphobia seriously as well as the wider LGBT+ issues. Leeds Beckett have placed within Stonewall’s Top 100 Employers for the past three years, showing a dedication to diversity and inclusivity.
Leeds LGBT+ Book Club is a group is a monthly club for LGBT+ people and allies aged 18 years and over to get together and discuss books with an LGBT+ theme.
Our debut meet up is on Wednesday 2 nd May, 5.45-6.45pm in the Portal room at Leeds Central Library. This month’s book is The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson; a gripping young adult novel about two teenagers journey and the complexities of fitting in and being yourself. Leeds Book Awards 2016 winner in the 14-16 years’ category, we also found this book captivating for adults and have passed it around a number of friends and family members too!
For more information about Leeds LGBT+ Book Club, email us on leedslgbtbookclub@gmail.com or check us out on www.facebook.com/leedsLGBTbooks or www.twitter.com/leedsLGBTbooks
As you may well know, February is LGBT History Month in the UK. It’s the month we celebrate some of the amazing things that have been achieved within LGBT rights, remember some of the very low points that we and others before us have fought through and highlight some of the wonderful things LGBT people have accomplished.
However, many people seem to have difficulty highlighting some of the bisexual events and involvement within LGBT history. Because of this, I thought I’d put an admittedly brief timeline together for some of the key moments that stand out to me:
1914 – Though previously used to describe having both male and female sexual organs, the word
bisexual was first used to describe people who are attracted to men and women in 1914. The term has evolved again over the years and is now more commonly used to describe attraction to more than one gender.
1948 – American biologist Alfred Kinsey publishes Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male (and five years later Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female) identifying that sexual attraction/behaviour could be towards people of more than one gender (ie not just straight and gay).
1970 - Bisexual identified activist Brenda Howard, also known as the “Mother of Pride” was a key organiser in the first Pride event in New York the year following the Stonewall riots.
1972 – The first statement of support for bisexuality and the challenging of biphobia by a religious group released from the Quaker Friends General Conference.
1978 – Fritz Klein published The Bisexual Option which included the Fritz Klein Sexual Orientation Grid. Based on Alfred Kinsey’s Kinsey Scale but allowing for expressions of attraction beyond the sexual/behavioural.
2000 – The Journal of Bisexuality, the first academic, peer reviewed journal dedicated to bisexuality, was founded in the United States. The journal is still published in paper form and online today.
1994 – BiPhoria, the UK’s longest running bi group, was founded in Manchester.
1999 – Celebrate Bisexuality Day, also known as Bi Visibility Day, was founded to celebrate bisexuality and combat bi-erasure and bi-invisibility, this now takes place yearly on 23 rd September.
2009 – Stonewall release their first piece of research focusing specifically on bisexuality: Bisexual People in the Workplace: Practical Advice for Employers.
1998 – Bi Pride flag (pink, purple and blue) created.
2010 – Bi’s of Colour, a UK based support group of bi people of colour, was founded.
2012 – The Bisexuality Report is published in the UK.
2014 – The yearly bisexual convention BiCon comes to Leeds for the first time.
2014 – Leeds Bi Group has its first meeting. We have now been running for two and a half years.
2016 – Leeds City Council flew the bi flag over the Civic Hall for the first time for Bi Visibility Day.
2016 – Openly bisexual boxer Nicola Adams from Leeds won her second Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing.
2016 – LGBT charity Stonewall ran a free Bi Role Models programme for bisexuals to help empower bi people to challenge biphobia and support each other.
For regular bisexual history updates, follow the @bisexualhistory page on Twitter.
BiCon is a yearly bisexual convention that takes place for a long weekend every summer in a different city. From Thursday evening to Sunday lunchtime it is jam packed full of social gatherings, gaming and workshops as well as spaces just to chill out and chat or read.
There’s fancy dress ball on the Saturday night with the last few years being based on bisexuals in space, magical forest and favourite fictional characters. It’s great to see all the costumes but they aren’t compulsory with a good portion of people just dressing up or wearing what they’re comfortable in. This year’s theme has just been announced as a “Bisexual Beach Party”.
Founded in 1984 as the Politics of Bisexuality, this is the second time Leeds will host the UK’s largest bisexual gathering. In 2014 the convention was found a home at Trinity University and was attended by over 350 bi+ people and allies. This year will be at the Headingley campus of Leeds Beckett University, Thursday 10th to Sunday 13th August (the weekend after Leeds Pride).
I’ve been attending BiCon since 2012 in Bradford; it is an amazing feeling to be surrounded by others like myself, not having to explain what being bi means. It’s like being in a bisexual bubble with a great, diverse mix of people and friends.
Check out the BiCon 2017 website (http://2017.bicon.org.uk/) for more details and to buy tickets.
Written by Emily @ Leeds Bi Group