Needs Pt. 05: The Romance Of Us.

“This culture is not only heterosexist, homophobic, and biphobic, it is thunderously sex-phobic, and we women especially have borne the brunt of it. It seemed we could only choose between pristine purity - with attendant boredom - or infamy as sluts. Worse, if we showed any interest in sex at all, sexist men would take that as an invitation to walk all over us and abuse us. Even if we showed no interest, sexist males would take our mere femaleness as invitation. No wonder the radical-feminist line hardened around an anti-sex stance, and the whole realm of sex had become tainted by all that uninvited, often violent attention.

But, isn’t it about time to reconquer the realm of sex for ourselves? Isn’t it time for this woman to ask: “What do I want? What turns me on? Who turns me on if I’m not influenced by any attitudes whatsoever, neither from left nor right, neither from straight nor gay and lesbian? Isn’t it time to finally drop all labels of sick or sinful or politically incorrect? Is this not the most revolutionary act as a woman could perform today?””

- Ellen Terris, Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out

“Although bisexuals have always been part of lesbian and gay movements and communities, they have often not been visible as bisexuals in these groups. Consider, for instance, these little-known historical facts:

A bisexual man was one of the key organizers of the first national March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1979. He also cofounder the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays and led a delegation of black gays to meet with White House staff while Carter was President.

A bisexual Washingtonian was one of the first women to write about living women in the national feminist news journal, off our backs, in 1972.

It was a bisexual man who conceived and spearheaded the successful national “gaycott” of Florida orange juice in response to Anita Bryant’s homophobic “Save Our Children” campaign in Dade County, Florida, in the late 1970s.

A lesbian-identified bisexual ex-suburban housewife ran for Vice President on a bisexual/lesbian/gay civil rights platform during the 1984 Democratic Party convention in San Francisco.

In May 1989, a bisexual veteran from New England, representing the National Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Veterans Association, was the first out-of-the-closet veteran invited to testify before Congress on behalf of all lesbian, gay, and bisexual veterans.

But even in these high-profile “out” positions, bisexuals often continued to be perceived as gays and lesbians by both the gay rights movement and the rest of society.”

- Loraine Hutchins, Bisexuality: The Psychology and Politics of an Invisible Minority

“To some extent most men, straight or gay, aren’t interested in what women like. Maybe gay men, because they sleep with men, think they no longer have to think about women’s sexuality. So maybe when they go to a club, and there are lesbians there who are very openly sexual… some think it’s disgusting, but a lot of others might find it erotic… I think women are more interested in male sexuality than men are interested in women’s.”

- ‘Hilary’, quoted by Nicola Field, Bisexual Horizons: Politics, Histories, Lives

"This book contains a queer scientist..."

"This book contains a trans adventurer..."

"This book has a bisexual detective..."

Okay, but is it good? Because as a member of the alphabet crowd, I don't care if it's lgbtq friendly when I'm gonna be bored shitless by a mediocre plot.

So damn hot

“Up against criticism from conservatives and fundamentalists that the gay lifestyle, if not a sickness, was at least a sin and was wilfully “chosen,” gay strategists instead asserted that they were “born that way” and could not change even if they wanted to. It thus became popular, as well as politically expedient, to argue and assume that people are either one or the other. Related to this, an important question is whether one can demand rights for a “choice.” As long as sexuality is seen as fixed at birth or soon after, gay legal theorists who base their gay civil rights arguments on monosexual assumptions about sexual orientation can argue that gays should be a protected class and deserve civil rights on that basis. No one is currently arguing in the courts that same-sex love can also be a choice and, like religion, also deserves defence on that ground.”

- Loraine Hutchins, Bisexuality: The Psychology and Politics of an Invisibly Minority

“Characters rarely identified themselves as bisexual out loud - instead they behaved their bisexuality, usually through an illicit queer hookup (followed by a breakdown because they’re so “confused”). This taught me that bisexuality was something you do, rather than something you are. And since I hadn’t “done it” yet, I figured I was straight.”

- Jen Winston, Greedy: Notes from a Bisexual Who Wants Too Much