Another #BiHistoryMonth Fun Fact: The "bi lesbian" Battle Of The Labels isn't new.

These excerpts are from a Feb 6, 1992 Outweek article.

Also not new: This is really about whether bi women are allowed into the lesbian community: how much? Under what conditions? When and where?

It highlights the real challenge:

The erasure of bi+ culture is so pervasive, many bi, pan, omni, and other people must trade their identity and history in, and try for the safety of the gay community.

But just like in the straight world, it's very, very easy to get rejected.

Here's the real kicker.

The entire reason this article exists is that in 1989, Northampton added "Bisexual" to its Pride March.

And the lesbian community literally organized nationwide to shut that down.

And they won.

Ok, I'm back to share a little of the history here, and then some positivity!

You can read the full Outweek article here: http://outweek.net/pdfs/ow_84.pdf 

And a more detailed play-by-play, from Clare Hemmings' book Bisexual Spaces, here: https://autismserenity.tumblr.com/post/145295964003/httpwwwamazoncombisexual-spaces-geography-sex

Hemmings writes that the lesbian community saw "and Bisexual" as revealing "a move away from lesbian visibility and politics. The absence of any lesbian speakers [at the 1989 March] confirmed many people’s suspicions that bisexual inclusion equaled lesbian exclusion.”

The 1989 speakers: a bi man; a straight woman updating people about a recent gay and lesbian civil rights bill; and a lesbian -- who'd had to cancel.

The performers, ASL interpreters, and emcees, however, were mainly lesbians.

The local lesbian community called two meetings to strategize, and got 40 people to the next (ten-person) 1990 Pride committee meeting.

They successfully changed it back to "the Lesbian and Gay Pride March."

Bisexuals, like straight people, were "welcomed" to march as allies.

The 1991 march was organized by just four lesbians, with the theme "Claiming Our Identity: Protecting Our Lives" -- "suggesting that the refusal to allow bisexuals named inclusion was a matter of lesbian and gay safety rather than a question of differences within community."

That's the other big issue behind all of this.

Bi men were framed as potential rapists; bi women, as the bringers of male partners who were potential rapists.

People called this "the violence of heterosexuality," similar to the claim that trans inclusion equals "male violence."

Sarah Dreher, the author of the Stoner McTavish mysteries, headed the small 1991 committee and spoke at the march.

The wonderful and long-lived @BiWomenQtly reprinted her speech, along with some photos from the event.

It's a tough read. Bi/pan+ folks, feel free to skip it.

I was especially struck by her statement that although some people think bisexuals belong "because they are oppressed for their sexual choices, some of us feel it takes a lot more than sexual oppression to be a community."

I've heard those exact arguments in ace discourse:

• calling it a choice, not an orientation
• acknowledging that aces face "some" oppression, but saying "they still aren't LGBT," "they should start their own groups," "we don't have enough in common," etc.

But there is a happy ending.

Check that out: "BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER"!

From what I've been able to find, the local community overall was strongly in favor of bi+ inclusion -- but didn't feel safe on the existing committee.

I'm guessing the exclusionists burned out, and inclusionists took it back.

Interestingly, there was a Lesbian Liberation Rally held on the same day as the 1992 "Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual" march (no trans yet).

Meanwhile, longtime bi activist Loraine Hutchins made a glorious speech at the 1992 Northampton Lesbian Gay and Bisexual Pride March:

"Four years ago in Washington, D.C., there was no bisexual contingent in our Gay Pride Parade, as usual. But I was tired of being anonymous after being out as a bisexual in D.C. for over 15 years.

"So I dressed up in my WonderWoman with a Hard-On outfit....

"...painted a bi byke (B-Y-K-E) license plate for my BI cycle, and made a sign saying 'Peace To All Closet Bisexuals And To Those Already Out Too.'"

(just a quick sidebar:

remember how this all started with the label "bi lesbian"?

guess what "byke" was short for.)

"I marched alone in that 1988 Washington, D.C., Pride Parade, to cheers AND jeers - because I was tired of being silent.

"If I had to be alone, I figured, at least I didn't have to be invisible."

HOW FREAKING AMAZING IS LORAINE HUTCHINS? But wait, there's more!

"Tremendous change has happened since then. A national bi movement has been born.

This bi movement flourishes in books, magazines, dances, directories, over e-mail, and at local, national, and international gatherings."

(This was so long ago, @BiWomenQtly actually had to edit that to say "[computer electronic]-mail"!)

"Bisexuals now appear on CNN talk shows, NOT to be ridiculed, but to talk seriously about our politics. We appear at art performances, on academic panels, and even on gay magazine covers...."

"Bi social groups and political action/education groups are meeting in Seattle and Albany, in Chicago and N.Y., from L.A. to Boulder, Boston, Philadelphia, Columbia and Miami, to New Zealand, London, Amsterdam and Berlin."

"In Washington, D.C., we've just celebrated our first successful conference on multiculturalism and sexual diversity, convened by AMBi/AMBUSH - the Alliance of Multicultural Bisexuals United to Stop Heterosexism, Homophobia, Harassment, HIV, and Helms."