Listen to this articleToday, Sept. 23, the world celebrates Bisexuality Day, an event that was founded in 1999 to celebrate the bisexual community. Also called Bisexual Pride Day and Bi Visibility Day, the aim to observe the day is precise — discuss the issues that bisexual people face to become more visible. Bisexuals tend to experience a significant stigma around their sexual identity. They are bisexuals in a lesbian or a gay relationship. It is to battle this stereotype that we need to observe this day. As we celebrate Bisexuality Day 2019, here is a more detail including the history, significance and celebrations associated with Bi Visibility Day that you should know.
Bisexuality Day was first officially observed in 1999 at the International Lesbian and Gay Association Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. Celebrate Bisexuality Day is the brainchild of three bisexual rights activists namely Wendy Curry of Maine, Michael Page of Florida, and Gigi Raven Wilbur of Texas. The celebration as opposed to LGBT events, was conceived as a response to the prejudice and marginalization of bisexual people by a few in both the straight and greater LGBT communities. Bisexuality is often considered to be “half gay” or an initial step to gay and lesbian identities. If being a woman you are with a man, in most cases people think of you as straight and if with a woman they take you as a lesbian. Because of all these biases and slights have added up to some real problems in the community, which is why Bi Visibility Day is celebrated.
And, coming up this Saturday, Sept. 28, is the 5th annual Queer Continuum Conference: Resistance from Within, hosted by the Utah Pride Center’s 1 to 5 Group Utah and with keynote speaker, Shauna Brock. Learn more about her below.
SHAUNA BROCK
(SHE/HER) BISEXUAL ACTIVIST, AWARD-WINNING QUEER AUTHOR, CO-FOUNDER OF 1 TO 5 CLUB UTAH
Shauna Brock is a bisexual identified poly-type dyke person who has a tendency to take on too many projects and forget that sleep is a thing. Her activism and community organizing are almost as old as she is: having grown up in community organizing spaces with her mother before joining her own groups in college. For the past 22 years, she has worked to make spaces safer for her sexually fluid family, working with groups such as BiNet Austin and of course, the 1 to 5 Club.
She is an award winning writer whose characters all seem to end up at least kind of queer, she has a tendency to fangirl and fangirl hard for other people’s characters and music, and don’t get her started on Star Trek. In 2005, Shauna and her sibling, Andi, co-founded the 1 to 5 Club, with the intention of giving b+ and other sexually fluid and asexual identified individuals a safe place to come out and socialize in Utah.
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