It’s almost time for Bi Visibility Day, and we hope you’ll be celebrating it with us! It’s a great opportunity to tell all your bi employees, customers and service users that they are valued and celebrated, and that your organisation won’t tolerate any forms of biphobia.
Click here to read Amy, Pierrette and Stella’s stories of being bi in the workplace. These are the stories of LGBT people from across the world of work. Some speak of the change they’ve made at their workplace, some discuss the opportunities they’ve had as visible role models, and others explore the challenges they’ve faced along the way. All share the message that bringing your whole self to work is both liberating and powerful.
Bi people are often the forgotten part of the LGBT community. Their experiences are commonly assumed to be the same as lesbian and gay experiences, and their identities are frequently made invisible or dismissed as something that doesn’t exist, by people both inside and outside of this community.
They face a number of negative stereotypes, the primary ones being that they’re greedy, manipulative, incapable of monogamy and unable to make their minds up – the last of which is the same as saying who they are isn’t real.
The assumptions about bi people are also gendered. Bi women are more likely to be viewed as ‘actually straight’, their sexual orientation merely a performance to attract straight men, whereas bi men are frequently seen as going through a ‘phase’ on the way to coming out as gay.
This is why we need Bi Visibility Day. It’s an opportunity to celebrate diverse bi identities, raise the voices of bi people, and call for positive change.
Everyone has a role to play in achieving this: we need to learn about bi experiences and the unique challenges they face; we need to call out biphobia and harmful stereotypes, if safe to do so; we need to not assume sexual orientation on the basis of someone’s current partner; and we need to increase the representation of bi people whenever we can.
But first and foremost, if you want to step up as an ally to bi people, remember they exist, remember the stereotypes and assumptions they face every day, and think of one thing you can do in your daily life to help.
Thanks to Stonewall for this information.
JD
The Equality Blog 