Bialogue, a portmanteau of the words bisexual and dialogue , is an American activist group that started in New York City, working on issues of local, national, and international interest to the bisexual, fluid, pansexual, queer-identified communities and their allies. [1] [2] Bialogue's mission is to dispel myths and stereotypes about bisexuality, address biphobia and bisexual erasure, educate the public on the facts and realities of bisexuality and advocate for the bisexual community. Its slogan is "Taking Action not just Offense". [3]
Bialogue was founded in 2005 and is the merger of two older New York City–based activist/political groups: BiPAC and the Coalition for Unity and Inclusion. [4]
Founded in 1989, BiPAC (short for the "Bisexual Political Action Committee") was an explicitly militant activist political group dedicated to confronting and eradicating biphobia and bisexual erasure. In addition to working on issues exclusive to New York City bisexual community, BiPAC also worked in conjunction with other New York City LGBT and progressive groups of their day including ACT UP, Queer Nation, Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization, Children of the Rainbow, Por Los Niños, and the Coalition for a District Alternative (CoDA).
The Coalition for Unity and Inclusion (founded 2000) was a coalition of bisexual and transgender activists who drew support from reform-minded directors of the more traditional LGBT organizations, liberal politicians as well as the grassroots bisexual and transgender community. They used such tactics as letter writing campaigns, petition drives and an innovative "feedback campaign" to achieve their goals. [4]
The original impetus for founding both BiPAC and the Coalition for Unity and Inclusion was to combat instances of blatant biphobia within the larger New York City LGBT community. Bialogue, which emerged in response to the flap [5] over the 'Bailey Study' which attempted to invalidate bisexuality itself, [6] [ verification needed ][ unreliable source? ] has always worked closely with such established bisexual organizations as BiNet USA, [7] the Bisexual Foundation [8] and the Bisexual Resource Center as well as mainstream LGBT groups such as GLAAD. [9]
LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
Pansexuality is sexual, romantic, or emotional attraction towards people regardless of their sex or gender identity. Pansexual people may refer to themselves as gender-blind, asserting that gender and sex are not determining factors in their romantic or sexual attraction to others.
Biphobia is aversion toward bisexuality and bisexual people as individuals. It can take the form of denial that bisexuality is a genuine sexual orientation, or of negative stereotypes about people who are bisexual. Other forms of biphobia include bisexual erasure.
BiNet USA is an American national nonprofit bisexual community whose mission is to "facilitate the development of a cohesive network of bisexual communities, promote bisexual visibility, and collect and distribute educational information regarding bisexuality. BiNet USA provides national network for bisexual organizations and individuals across the United States, and encourages participation and organizing on local and national levels." They claim to be the oldest national bisexuality organization in the United States.
LGBT culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture, while the term gay culture may be used to mean "LGBT culture" or to refer specifically to homosexual culture.
Brenda Howard was an American bisexual rights activist, sex-positive feminist, and polyamorist. She was an important figure in the modern LGBT rights movement.
New York Area Bisexual Network (NYABN) is a central communications network for bisexual & bi-friendly groups and resources in the five boroughs of New York City and the surrounding Tri-State area. The mission of the New York Area Bisexual Network is to facilitate the development of a cohesive bisexual community in the New York Area. The network promotes bisexual visibility, works to protect the bisexual community from discrimination and biphobia and assists and empowers the individual community members, their families and friends to live full, rich, safe and happy lives.
The Bisexual Resource Center (BRC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, that has served the bisexual community since 1985. Originally known as The East Coast Bisexual Network, it incorporated in 1989 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and changed its name to the Bisexual Resource Center in 1993.
The bisexual community includes members of the LGBT community who identify as bisexual, pansexual, and sexually fluid. As opposed to hetero- or homosexual people, people in the bisexual community experience attraction to more than one gender.
Sheela Lambert is an American bi-sexual activist and writer. She is the Founder/Director of the Bisexual Book Awards, founder of the Bi Writers Association, was co-founder of Bi Women of All Colors and has been active in a number of bisexual rights groups including BiNet USA. She is openly bisexual and wrote about bisexuality and LGBT popular culture/entertainment issues in her national bisexual column for Examiner.com for seven years as well as articles for The Huffington Post, The Advocate, AfterEllen and AfterElton, Bi Magazine, Lambda Literary Foundation and the America Today LGBTQ Encyclopedia and editing for efforts including Biwriters.org. She presents information on bisexuality issues at universities, conferences, high schools and in-service trainings.
Robyn Ochs is an American bisexual activist, professional speaker, and workshop leader. Her primary fields of interest are gender, sexuality, identity and coalition building. She is the editor of the Bisexual Resource Guide, Bi Women Quarterly, and the anthology Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World. Ochs, along with Professor Herukhuti, co-edited the anthology Recognize: The Voices of Bisexual Men.
Celebrate Bisexuality Day is an annual holiday observed on September 23 to recognize and celebrate bisexual people, the bisexual community, and the history of bisexuality.
Bisexual erasure or bisexual invisibility is the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or re-explain evidence of bisexuality in history, academia, the news media, and other primary sources. In its most extreme form, bisexual erasure can include the belief that bisexuality itself does not exist.
Bay Area Bi+ & Pan Network (BABPN), previously known as Bay Area Bisexual Network (BABN), is a social and networking group in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is the oldest and largest bisexual group in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 1987 BABN has welcomed people who are just coming out or new to the area to have opportunities to meet and talk with other bisexuals and pansexuals.
The pansexual flag is a magenta, yellow and cyan flag, designed as a symbol for the pansexual community to increase its visibility and recognition, and distinguish itself from bisexuality.
This article addresses the history of bisexuality in the United States. It covers this history beginning in 1892, which is when the first English-language use of the word "bisexual" to refer to sexual orientation occurred.
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in San Francisco is one of the largest and most prominent LGBT communities in the United States, and is one of the most important in the history of American LGBT rights and activism alongside New York City. The city itself has, among its many nicknames, the nicknames "gay capital of the world" and "the gay Mecca", and has been described as "the original 'gay-friendly city'". LGBT culture is also active within companies that are based in Silicon Valley, which is located within the southern San Francisco Bay Area.
The following outline offers an overview and guide to LGBT topics.
LGBT erasure refers to the tendency to remove lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, asexual and queer groups or people intentionally or unintentionally from record, or to dismiss or downplay their significance. This erasure can be found in a number of written and oral texts, including popular and scholarly texts.
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