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What were the views and opinions around bisexuality + influence of bisexual people during the time of ACT UP and Queer Nation? 

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What were the views and opinions around bisexuality + influence of bisexual people during the time of ACT UP and Queer Nation? 

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"I also hate the medical and mental health establishments, particularly the psychiatrist who convinced me not to have sex with men for three years until we (meaning he) could make me bisexual rather than queer."

This quote made me notice how being seen as bisexual was preferable to being queer/lesbian in the heteronormative gaze, but being bisexual was not considered a queer identity. This quote is what motivated my research question; I wanted to know, how did bisexual people identify, and how were they treated and perceived by straight and other non-bi queer people?

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How can I tell you. How can I convince you, brother; sister that your life is in danger. That everyday you wake up alive, relatively happy, and a functioning human being, you are committing a rebellious act. You as an alive and functioning queer are a revolutionary. There is nothing on this planet that validates, protects or encourages your existence. It is a miracle you are standing here reading these words. You should by all rights be dead.

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"In 1982, six years after coming out to myself as bisexual, l finally gathered the strength to live openly. But when I showed up in “lesbian and gay” spaces, I discovered that bisexual people were largely unwelcome. Our presence was often challenged—sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly. We were rejected from gay spaces and accused of trespassing in lesbian spaces. We were told that bisexual women are sexual “tourists” who exploit the lesbian community and dilute its “purity.”

This article was a useful starting point -

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Bisexuality Has Always Challenged Norms—Even in the Queer World

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Let’s use the 50th anniversary of Stonewall to embrace the full spectrum of our differences and desires.

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"[Bicon] booked into London's new Lesbian and Gay Community Centre, the 'lesbian sex wars' of the time meant that bisexual groups were banned from the Centre." - 1985

This is another example of the way that bisexual people were oppressed, not just by heterosexual people/organizations, but by queer ones as well. It calls me back to The Nation - how there was a 'purist' culture that excluded bisexuals, or, more generally, that bisexual falsely posed some kind of problem.

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1985 – 2nd Politics of Bisexuality Conference – BiCon – the UK’s main bisexual gathering..

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I'm especially grateful for this article and website - the article provides a thorough perspective of a bisexual person who has witnessed and experienced the negative perception of bi people during the AIDS crisis.

These introduce the false arguments of bisexual people being considered "second-class gays", that they are confused,

Also stated is the misconception that bisexual people are immovably prone to infidelity/a lack of faith - "A heterosexual lover once said that she would always love the part of me that could belong to her, but she understood that to possess me entirely would be to smother the essential 'me' that made me so dear."

I also like the quote, "If people could only accept that sexuality is infinitely variable and that it was never meant to be confined to the parameters it has been, then not only would MY life be easier but the world would become a much better place".

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I’d rather be bisexual half the time than heterosexual all the time.

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Link 5 - Bisexual Lives - Bisexuality and AIDS

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Link 5 - Bisexual Lives - Bisexuality and AIDS

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This part of the book is also very revealing - it goes in depth on the perception of bi people by the general public in relation to AIDS - how bi people, and especially men, were falsely perceived as a "bridging group", and the primary contributors of spreading AIDS to the "normal" (heterosexual) population. The text also diffuses these rumors - addressing intravenous drug users and prostitutes as the main causes.

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‘Thinking about AIDS has made me realise how important each minute of life is – much too important to waste with regrets about past troubles and future fears.’

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Some of Us Did Not Die

Some of Us Did Not Die
We’re Still Here
I Guess It Was Our Destiny To Live

So Let’s get on with it!

Despite the stigma around being bisexual during the '80s and '90s, June Jordan was open about her label. She wrote about intersectionality and the AIDS crisis, and is recognized by many as a hero and important force in queer history. However, she was not as recognized due to being bi.

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Stephanie Farnsworth explains her choice of June Jordan for our Queeroes month

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Including this as a definition for the "Lesbian Sex Wars" for Link 3

"Lasting roughly from 1980 to 1990, it is often characterized as a battle between "pro-sex" and "anti-sex" forces, but arguments over how to address problems of sexual violence and oppression, while at the same time giving consideration to female sexual pleasure and autonomy , were much more complex than such labels suggest."

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A nice photo, and an interesting article.

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A short history of the word ‘bisexuality’

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How did bi+ people in the past understand their identities and attractions, and how does this history affect bi people and communities in the UK today?

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This project was more difficult than I expected - my research question was a bit too complex and difficult to effectively gather information on. Initially, I pursued the question of views on bisexual people in a lens of influence from ACT UP! and Queer Nation, due to what I read in the Queer Nation manifesto. However, details across searches I tried to conduct were vague and information was a bit difficult to collect in the end. I expanded my search to collect information on a broader view of bisexuality in the 80s and 90s, rather than the time frame in which ACT UP! and Queer Nation were active and prominent. Despite this setback, I did find many useful sources in which I was able to observe judgements of bisexual people - which were unfortunately stereotype-ridden and otherwise unfair. However, bisexual people did organize, and communities were formed, such as BiCon in the UK.

Although I couldn’t answer parts of my research question directly, I did find some intriguing aspects of queer history and perspective surrounding bi people. For example, bisexual men were sometimes blamed for AIDS in the heterosexual population, describing bi men as a “bridging group”. Another stereotype found was that bisexual people cannot be entirely loyal - that they will be distracted and confused by their attraction to more than one gender. Finally, a barrier especially defined by the tight nature of the queer community in the 80s and 90s was that of “purity” - which labels bisexual women as sex tourists, trespassers/invaders, and overall diluting of the purity of lesbian spaces. This led to bans on bisexual organization and conferences in certain locations meant as queer spaces, such as BiCon’s 2nd Politics of Bisexuality Conference, from the London Lesbian & Gay Centre in 1985. Overall, residing within the identification of a strictly homosexual identity was preferable to identifying oneself as bisexual, and bi people were shunned from queer spaces.

This topic is important, as it is an example of prejudice that highlights weaknesses in the LGBTQ+ community. A superiority complex among a majority population, as seen here in some gay and lesbian people, is likely to end up with negative effects on the minority (of bisexual and those identifying with sexualities falling outside of strictly homosexual.) It also highlights the importance of carrying a mindset of openness, rather than closed-mindness and judgement surrounding ideas that are uncomfortable or unfamiliar due to their newness. Another example I can think of involving exclusionary behavior among LGBTQ+ community members is the judgement of queer people expressing their personal preference for neo-pronouns. When I came to learn of these pronouns a while back, I was a bit taken aback, but came to the conclusion that usage of these pronouns don’t have any inherent harm, even if they fall out of the traditional binary of she/he/they. LGBTQ+ people are going to be targeted, no matter if we try to shun our own community members for expressing themselves in a certain way. The exclusion of bisexual people from queer spaces in the 1980s/90s had no fully logical reason other than a desire for control and molding of binaries.