Bisexuality discrimination just as real as other sexual orientation intolerance
The LGBT community is always coming together to bring equality for people of every sexual orientation. It seems, however, that many people forget the fact that the “B” coexists in the group.
It is there because it is real, and many people do not acknowledge it for what it is. The “B” in LGBT is for bisexuality, and it is frequently disregarded in terms of a “real” or “fake” sexuality.
Coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered or any other sexual orientation is a hard process — it is about realizing one has feelings that are usually disregarded in society, and usually can cause conflicts with family and friends.
Often times, the fight for acceptance in America is focused on granting gay marriage, which in itself is not a good terminology, because people who marry the same sex are not always gay or lesbian.
One main focus of LGBT is having the right to marry freely. The movement is sweeping across America, with many states bringing it up for discussion by the day. An article on advocate.com talks about one bisexual woman labeled as a lesbian when she married her wife. She identifies as bisexual, yet because she married a woman, she was automatically identified as lesbian in newspapers.
Clearly this is a problem, because the article said bisexuals are also left out of marriage when they are just as strongly fighting for their own individual rights, too.
If America can come to terms with lesbians and gays marrying, why do they not realize there are bisexuals, too? It is not truly freedom if it is only labeled “gay marriage.” It gives bisexuals the feeling they are inadequate and that if they marry the same sex, they are immediately homosexual, which is not the case.
Lindasusan Ulrich, a bisexual woman married to another bisexual woman, wrote a 46-page paper on bisexual acceptance, filled with stereotype analysis and the disregards bisexuals many times face. One part of the text explains how bisexuals are often erased from history, and famous bisexuals are usually labeled gay or lesbian.
Not only are they part of a huge community based on acceptance and granting rights to marry, but bisexuals are coming to terms with sexuality as much as any other gay or lesbian person. Because they are labeled as something they are not, many famous bisexuals are often times never recognized as bisexual, which is degrading and makes people feel like their sexuality is not good enough to be accepted.
Biphobia exists, and it is hard to come to terms with, but many perpetrators of biphobia come from the LGBT community, who claim bisexuals are in a phase and it is only a matter of time before they turn straight or homosexual. This is a degrading statement indeed, because if many LGBT members want the same marriage and acceptance rights as everyone, then they should also be able to realize bisexuality exists as its own sexuality, and they are fighting for their rights as well.
When those coming to accept their own sexuality — especially at a young age — are faced with biphobic remarks, they feel in the wrong about it and in turn, can become confused as to why some people can accept gay and lesbian marriages, but cannot truly see bisexuality as “real.” It is not a good message to spread to those who want to come out as bisexual, when everyone’s coming out experience should be an accepting one.
One cannot truly be accepted as bisexual if many people claim it does not deserve its title in terms of marriage and overall identity, when bisexuality is as real as any other sexuality.
