Dear community,
This week, September 16–23, San Diego Pride joins communities worldwide in celebrating Bisexual+ Awareness Week (Bi+Week). Bi+Week honors the history and contributions of the bisexual+ community – including bi, pansexual, fluid, queer, and other multi-gender attracted identities – while raising awareness of the inequities our community still faces.
When I was first becoming involved in LGBTQ+ organizing, narratives of bi-erasure clouded my assumptions of what the movement looked like, and quickly I was struck by how many of the leaders, visionaries, and everyday changemakers around me and in our organizing history were openly bi+. While stories of erasure speak truth to the ways bi+ identities are often invalidated or ignored, Bi+Week is also about digging past that dominant narrative to highlight the bisexual+ leaders in our community.
Throughout history and today, bi+ icons have shaped our movement and culture – from Brenda Howard, the “Mother of Pride,” to legendary artists like Frida Kahlo and Freddie Mercury, to contemporary leaders like Adrienne Maree brown, Margaret Cho, and Zooey Zephyr. Their lives and work remind us that the bi+ community has always been, and will always be, central to LGBTQ+ liberation.
The truth is, bi+ people make up more than half of the LGBTQ+ community, and younger generations are identifying as bi+ or queer at greater rates. Bi+ folks are present in all queer spaces, though it may not be apparent at first: sending memes in your group chat, dancing at your favorite queer bar, adding Frank Ocean to the playlist, competing in sports leagues, and standing up for LGBTQ+ rights. All of us belong, no matter how loud or visible we may seem.
As we recognize Bi+Week, I invite you to reconsider bi-erasure with a lens of opportunity – bisexual+ people are a huge part of our overarching demographic and the opportunity for targeted messaging, dedicated resources, and programs that center bisexual+ communities continues to be largely untapped. Bisexual+ communities are key in this critical moment for movement building and solidarity for LGBTQ+ rights and resources – yet, according to recent research from Pew Research Center, “About four-in-ten bisexual adults (42%) say they feel not too or not at all connected, greater than the shares of gay or lesbian (31%) and transgender (20%) adults who say the same.” Here lies a tremendous opportunity to build strength as a movement and community by further highlighting our diversity as well as our numbers.
To advance this vision, take a moment to learn about organizations like The Visibility Impact Fund and Still Bisexual, among the relatively few organizations and programs in the world fueling bisexual+ specific program support. By supporting and centering bi+ voices, we not only affirm the largest segment of our LGBTQ+ community, but also strengthen the solidarity and resilience of our movement as a whole.
With gratitude,
Your local bi-con and flirty force for good <3
Lo Horst
Director of Philanthropy
San Diego Pride raises funds primarily through festival ticket and beverage sales, and through sponsorships, and exhibitor fees. These funds support San Diego Pride’s community philanthropy which has distributed more than $2.5 million in advancement of its mission to foster pride, equality, and respect for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities locally, nationally, and globally.
