Black History Month: Is Bisexuality the New Black? Feb 1

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Join Adrienne Williams on Bi Talk Radio Weekly on Wednesday at 5 p.m CST

Bi Social Network will discuss the lives and stories of black bisexuals during Black History Month. In this five part series on Bi Talk Radio, we’ll talk about what is happening with race, health, social issues, entertainment and sexuality in 2012. Hopefully it will be funny, educational, uplifting, truthful, insightful and needed.

Bisexuals in History: Spotlight
Alice Walker; February 1

Introduction to Black History Month

Special guest will drop in to chat.

Listen to internet radio with Bi Social Network on Blog Talk Radio

To listen to archived podcast programming, please see our homepage at the bottom.
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A Study On Bisexual Women

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(Image Credit:) Wikimediacommons.com/MaraB.

It appears that yet another study has come about bisexuals, this one specifically about bisexual women. It’s good to see so many studies being done about us; hopefully that will help combat invisibility, and it’s great to see more attention being paid to women as well. I’ve written about several of these studies before, including ones about bisexual men, mental health in our community, bi invisibility, and others. This study was a local one, done at George Mason University in my neck of the woods. I participated in it by filling out some forms and questionnaires that were sent out all over the bisexual community, particularly over the internet.

While the study being done was a great thing, the results unfortunately were not. The headline of the study is called Bisexual Women Suffer Stress and Depression. Some key parts parts of the study summarized: “Bisexual women are more likely to smoke, binge drink and suffer from stress and depression, due to feelings of invisibility and little community support. Interestingly, gay and straight women do not have the same risk for alcohol abuse and depression as bisexual women. The study looked at how three different dimensions of sexuality – identity, behavior and attraction - linked with health problems.  The study also says that bisexual men seemed to have significantly lower risks for the same things.”  Well, are we surprised?  I wish I could say yes, but unfortunately, other than specifically focusing on bisexual women, there is nothing new here.  Next I’d like to see a study with suggestions on how to remedy this! This content is for members only.

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Reflections On Internalized Homophobia or Biphobia, Part 2

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(Image Credit:) WikimediaCommons.org/LuMaxArt

In my last article I wrote about internalized biphobia and/or homophobia, and how I had recently experienced it myself. At the end I had asked: So—what to do? How do those of us in the bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgender (BLGT) community who deal with this, try and move past it?

Talk about tackling a difficult issue! While the BLGT community’s efforts have had some effects on making at least the more liberal parts of the straight community more tolerant and supportive of BLGT people, ironically and unfortunately, it seems to have had more trouble doing the same with internalized homophobia and/or biphobia. One major effort made by BLGT organizations, early education in schools—explaining to kids that just like some people are black, and there’s nothing wrong with that, some people have two mommies or two daddies instead of one mommy and one daddy, and that’s okay—has been shown not only to significantly reduce bullying, but it also seems to result in less internalized biphobia and/or homophobia. Having Gay-Straight Alliances in schools as kids get older and form clubs in school is also a great idea, and there are more of them springing up. However, while schools in a few states have managed to implement these early education measures, both these and the Gay-Straight Alliance efforts have been met with huge backlashes from the religious community, as well from well-meaning parents who were scared by propaganda of their children being “taught to be gay”.  The Gay-Straight Alliance Clubs have met more success, but still face significant barriers. As a result, many have programs have either been severely curtailed or completely done away with. I strongly believe that if more of these early educational measures could be implemented, it could really make a dent in helping kids BLGT kids with internalized biphobia and/or homophobia. This content is for members only. Continue reading »

Reflections On Internalized Homophobia or Biphobia, Part 1

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(Image Credit:) istock.com

Internalized homo[phobia] and/or biphobia are defined as negative feeling towards oneself because of one’s homosexuality or bisexuality. It causes severe discomfort with or disapproval of one’s own sexual orientation. Sometimes the term “internalized stigma” is used instead. In addition, internalized biphobia can also include denying bisexuality exists and engaging in bisexual invisibility, as well as propagating some of the other stereotypes about bisexuals. Social homophobia and/or biphobia is the fear of being identified as gay or bisexual, especially in public.

Why bring these up? Because last week, I, bisexual crusader, writer, and activist for bisexual, lesbian, gay, and transgender rights, experienced some internalized homophobia or biphobia that I had thought long gone, and realized that I have a longer way to go getting rid of it that I had realized. I can’t be out to my family, but I am out to co-workers (on this site, I would hope so!) and to all of my close friends, and I’ve participated in several BLGT events where I’ve felt out and proud, and pretty outspoken about bisexuality and its place in both the gay and straight communities. So imagine my surprise when last week, during my swimming aerobics class, a girl in my class (who I assumed was either bisexual or a lesbian because of a rainbow sticker on her backpack that I saw in the locker room) started trying to flirt with me and catch my eye during class. I wear bracelets that have the rainbow and bi colors on them (luckily my family doesn’t know what they mean), and she obviously recognized them. This content is for members only. Continue reading »

Why Avoid Saying Bisexual?

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(Image Credit:) Istock.com

Recently I started reading a blog called the Good Men Project. It’s a progressive blog about gender, race, sexuality, and other issues written by people from many different backgrounds. A lot of the articles are pretty interesting and informative, and there’s usually a good debate and/or conversation going on. A few days ago I stumbled across this article:  Mostly Straight, Most Of The Time.  It talked about men who often consider themselves “mostly straight,” meaning that more often that not, they prefer to date and be with women, but every once in a while they want to be with a guy, and they do not find the idea repulsive (great, maybe that will cut down on homophobia). While it’s great to see that more guys, especially of the younger generation, are more open to the concept of same-sex attraction, why are they saying there is “no word” for them? Why “mostly straight”, and not “bisexual with a preference for women”, or something like that? This content is for members only. Continue reading »

The Dangers of Sexual Beings

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Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Russell Armstrong (pictured with his estranged wife Taylor) took his own life when faced with being prematurely "outed." Image Source: Reality Tea

Dan Savage has finally given us his blessing.  In his August 16 article Case Closed: Bisexual Men Exist Savage offers what would seem to be a well thought out treatise on the sexuality of the human male and why previous scientific studies and perhaps even Savage himself have been wrong.  It turns out though, that Savage’s acceptance of Bisexuality and bisexual men in particular has done little to advance the acceptance of the oft referred “bisexual unicorn.” Especially as it pertains to pop culture.This content is for members only.

The day before Savage closed the book on the issue of male bisexuality, Russell Armstrong—husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Taylor Armstrong—was found dead after taking his own life.  In the days following the suicide, the show’s network—Bravo—declared the mystery of his lack of onscreen charisma with his wife solved when they revealed his “kinky gay sex life.”  A statement in and of itself that echoes the either/or mentality that many bisexual men face and one that Dan Savage has been publicly criticized for after making statements implying men cannot be bisexual in the documentary Bi the Way and his own article Bisexuals in which he states “When I meet a bisexual teenage boy, for instance, I sometimes think to myself, “Yeah, I was too at your age.”" While berating the bisexual community for a lack of “coming out”.  The idea of visibility as a tool of acceptance is not a new one—going back to Harvey Milk and Castro Street—what good would coming out have done for Russell Armstrong? Continue reading »

Mobile Podcast: Chicago LGBT Forum and Chicago Defender

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A few things I had to get off my chest here in Chicago. You might want to turn away. Clearly, I was a bit irate after reading the Huffington Post comments from the gay community on the differences between them and the black community, when it comes to leadership for the upcoming Mayoral race here in Chicago.

I have my thoughts on the candidates, Center on Halsted, transgender rights, the poor in the bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgender communities. I warn you, it’s not pretty.

Ted Haggard Finally Admits He’s Bisexual

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Former Pastor Ted Haggard (Image Credit: Free Online Picture)

Who could forget Ted Haggard’s Gay Sex Scandal back in 2006? For those of you who missed it, Ted Haggard was a well known Evangelical preacher who led a Christian mega church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was very influential in George W. Bush’s inner circle and became somewhat of a conservative celebrity. He was of course, very much anti bisexual, lesbian, gay and transgender (BLGT) rights. Then a huge scandal hit—a gay masseur and personal trainer named Mike Jones came forward and said Haggard had been paying him for gay sex (and sometimes doing drugs in front of him) for about a year and a half. There was a media firestorm—a vociferous opponent of BLGT rights engaging in gay sex? It was too good a story for the media to resist, and also a lot of people felt that in some way it was “poetic justice”. Continue reading »

Bi Bar: A Dancing Dream Come True

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Finally, We Bisexuals Have A Club Of Our Own! (Image Credit:) bibar.com

In my last article, Starting A Bisexual Revolution, I wrote that in order for the bisexual community to get the visibility we needed, we were going to have to start being more proactive.  Not long after that, a great example of that came right along.  After many bi blogs writing about it and bisexuals all over talking about it, someone has finally put into existence-a full out bisexual bar in San Fransisco- Bi Bar! Continue reading »

No One’s Asking, But I’m Telling

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Credit Image: Commons Wikimedia/Tweetapo

Last month the bisexual, lesbian, gay and transgender community was euphoric over the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” secure and content in the knowledge that bisexual, lesbian and gay Americans would soon be able to serve proudly and openly in the Armed Forces. Now if I were a Member of Congress, I would certainly have voted for the repeal. Since we have a military, it is only right that all qualified adults who wish to have the opportunity are able to join regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. But that’s as far as I’ll go on that.

]While we were popping open the celebratory champagne, though, we seemed to  to have forgotten that the United States is still engaged militarily in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also seems that this ‘victory’ for the bisexual, lesbian, gay and transgender community has kept us from considering the larger issues of war, colonialism and imperialism.
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