#bi history

[starnosedmoles]

Bisexual Pride! 1990 🩷💜💙

[queerasfact]

Happy birthday Freddie Mercury!

Born on 5 September 1946, Freddie would have been 77 today. We often focus on public images of him as the frontman of Queen, but on his birthday today I thought I'd post some of my favourite pictures of him just hanging out with his partner, barber Jim Hutton. Freddie and Jim were together for seven years, and although gay marriage was illegal in Britain at the time, they exchanged rings to symbolise their commitment to each other.

Learn more about Freddie and Jim

[will80sbyers]

Bisexuality & discrimination by Lani Kaahumanu / 1985

[shuppyshup]

A violent reminder 💖💜💙

[pamsinclair]

From the Spring 1997 issue of bisexual magazine "Anything That Moves" (plain text under the cut)

Not A Traitor, Not Weird, Just Happy

Greetings! Just when I was afraid that there was no intelligent life out there, I find Anything That Moves. What luck!

I adored "Bi Femme" by Leah Lilith Albrecht-Samarasinha; I think she and I are sisters under the skin! I am currently embroiled in a passionate relationship with a glorious drag queen, and I was really starting to feel as if I were the only bi-babe who got all sweaty over a guy in a frock.

I, too, have been called a traitor by my gay friends, and just plain weird by my straight friends, but how can you label "happy"? I steal his clothes, he steals mine... and we wear the same size skirt. What more is there?

Thanks again. I shall return regularly.

Ging (from the 'net)

[bidotorg]

🌈✨ Celebrating 25 Years of Bisexual Pride Flag! ✨🌈

Today marks a special milestone as we commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Bisexual Pride Flag! 🎉🏳️‍🌈 Designed by the talented Michael Page in 1998, this vibrant flag has become a powerful symbol of visibility and recognition for the bisexual community.

For a quarter of a century, the pink, purple, and blue stripes have represented the diverse spectrum of attraction that bisexual individuals experience. Each color carries meaning — from same-sex attraction to opposite-sex attraction, and the beautiful blend of both in between.

This flag has played a crucial role in fostering a sense of identity and belonging within the LGBT community, breaking down barriers and challenging stereotypes. It stands tall at pride parades, events, and gatherings, proudly declaring that bisexuality is an essential and valid part of the rich tapestry of human diversity.

Let's take a moment to honor the resilience, courage, and visibility that the Bisexual Pride Flag has brought to countless lives over the past 25 years. Here's to continued progress, understanding, and celebration of all love! 🥳🎂🎊

[forsapphics]

🩷💜💙

[robynochs]

Very cool. All 22 issues of Anything That Moves--a bi magazine from the 1990s--have been archived by a group of young bisexual people & allies who are making them available online. Here's an article about how that happened & why ATM is still so relevant.

[transmasculine-history]

BiTrans Blues by M. S. Montgomery

from Anything That Moves issue 10, 1996

[perfect-bi-paradise]

[spring-maidens]

"Milieu: Gay Berlin" - an exploration of LGBT+ identities in the Weimar Republic (1920's Germany).

Based on "Gay Berlin" by Robert Beachy.

Did you know the roaring 20s have *always* been queer, both 100 years ago and now?

-----------

Note: I didn't have enough space to cover Dr. Magnus Hirschfield properly but he will be the subject of my next infographic. Dr. Hirschfield was a gay Jewish doctor and activist who created the first medical institute (Institut für Sexualwissenschaft) for LGBT+ people. He pioneered transgender care!

[starnosedmoles]

Outlook, 1992

“Some gays and lesbians wonder at many bisexuals' angry emphasis on biphobia in the gay community: Don't we know who our real enemies are? The answer is yes, and the dismal truth is we expect homophobia. Bisexual anger has a simple genesis: We expected more of others who have faced homophobia.”

[queerasfact]

Happy bi week! The first American woman in space was bi astronaut Sally Ride!

Learn more

[will80sbyers]

Extracts from “ Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl... A Bi Chronology” by M. S. Montgomery in the Issue n° 16 of ATM (1998)

[positively-bi]

It ain't over til the bisexual speaks...

The March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Equal Rights and Liberation took place on the 25th of April 1993 in Washington, D.C. An estimated 80,000 to over 1 million people attended.

The 1993 March was the first March on Washington to include bisexuals in the title. Out of 18 chosen speakers, only one was bisexual: Lani Ka'ahumanu.

Afterwards, she wrote an article for bisexual magazine Anything That Moves about her experience entitled "How I Spent My Two Week Vacation Being a Token Bisexual", which can be read on her website here.

The webpage also contains a transcript of the speech she made at the event, which has been copied below the cut:

Aloha, my name is Lani Ka’ahumanu, and it ain’t over til the bisexual speaks...

I am a token, and a symbol. Today there is no difference. I am the token out bisexual asked to speak, and I am a symbol of how powerful the bisexual pride movement is and how far we have come.

I came here in 1979 for the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.

I returned in 1987 for the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.

I stand here today on the stage of the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Equal Rights and Liberation.

In 1987 I wrote an article on bisexuality for the Civil Disobedience Handbook titled, “Are we visible yet?”

Bisexual activists organized on the local, regional and national levels to make this March a reality.

Are bisexuals visible yet? Are bisexuals organized yet? Are bisexuals accountable yet?

You bet your sweet ass we are!

Bisexuals are here, and we’re queer.

Bisexual pride speaks to the truth of behavior and identity.

No simple either/or divisions fluid – ambiguous – subversive bisexual pride challenges both the heterosexual and the homosexual assumption.

Society is based on the denial of diversity, on the denial of complexity.

Like multiculturalism, mixed heritage and bi-racial relationships, both the bisexual and transgender movements expose and politicize the middle ground.

Each show there is no separation, that each and everyone of us is part of a fluid social, sexual and gender dynamic.

Each signals a change, a fundamental change in the way our society is organized.

Remember today.

Remember we are family, and like a large extended family, we don’t always agree, don’t always see eye to eye.

However, as a family under attack we must recognize the importance of what each and every one of us brings to our movement.

There is strength in our numbers and diversity. We are every race, class, culture, age, ability, religion, gender identity and sexual orientation.

Our visibility is a sign of revolt.

Recognition of bisexual orientation and transgender issues presents a challenge to assumptions not previously explored within the politics of gay liberation.

What will it take for the gayristocracy to realize that bisexual, lesbian, transgender, and gay people are in this together, and together we can and will move the agenda forward.

But this will not happen until public recognition of our common issues is made, and a sincere effort to confront biphobia and transphobia is made by the established gay and lesbian leadership in this country.

The broader movement for our civil rights and liberation is being held back.

Who gains when we ostracize whole parts of our family? Who gains from exclusionary politics?

Certainly not us...

Being treated as if I am less oppressed than thou is not only insulting, it feeds right in to the hands of the right wing fundamentalists who see all of us as queer.

What is the difficulty in seeing how my struggle as a mixed race bisexual woman of color is intimately related to the bigger struggle for lesbian and gay rights the rights of people of color and the rights of all women?

What is the problem?

This is not a competition.

I will not play by rules that pit me against any oppressed group.

Has the gayristocracy bought so far in to the either/or structure, invested so much in being the opposite of heterosexual that they cannot remove themselves that they can’t imagine being free of the whole oppressive heterosexist system that keeps us all down?

Bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender people who are out of the closet, who are not passing for anything other than who and what we are all have our necks and our lives on the line.

All our visibility is a sign of revolt.

Bisexuals are here to challenge the bigots who have denied lesbian, gay and bisexual people basic civil rights in Colorado.

Yes, Amendment 2 includes bisexual orientation.

Yes, the religious right recognizes bisexuals as a threat to “so called” family values.

Bisexuals are here to protest the military ban against lesbians, gays and bisexuals.

Yes, the Department of Defense defines bisexuals separately as a reason to be dishonorably discharged.

And yes, out bisexuals are not allowed to be foster or adoptive parents,

And yes, we lose our jobs, our children, get beaten and killed for loving women and for loving men.

Bisexuals are queer, just as queer as queer can be.

Each of us here today represents many people who could not make the trip.

Our civil rights and liberation movement has reached critical mass.

Remember today.

Remember that we are more powerful than all the hate, ignorance and violence directed at us.

Remember what a profound difference our visibility makes upon the world in which we live.

The momentum of this day can carry us well into the 21st century if we come out where ever and when ever we can.

Remember assimilation is a lie. It is spiritual erasure.

I want to challenge those lesbian and gay leaders who have come out to me privately over the years as bisexual to take the next step, come out now.

What is the sexual liberation movement about if not about the freedom to love whom we choose?

I want to encourage bisexuals in the lesbian, gay and heterosexual communities to come out now.

Remember there is nothing wrong with love. Defend the freedom to express it.

Our visibility is a sign of revolt. We cannot be stopped. We are everywhere. We are bisexual, lesbian, gay and transgender people.

We will not rest until we are all free;

We will not rest until our basic human rights are protected under federal law;

We will not rest until our relationships and families are not just tolerated but recognized, respected and valued;

We will not rest until we have a national health care system; We will not rest until there are cures for AIDS and cancer.

We deserve nothing less. Remember we have every right to be in the world exactly as we are.

Celebrate that simply and fiercely.

I love you.

Mahalo and aloha.

[collarsncrowns]

Prince George & Princess Marina, The Duke and Duchess of Kent