Facebook/Toronto Bisexual Network
The Toronto Bisexual Network and Bi+ Pride will march together at the 2018 Pride Parade, the first time bisexuals and pansexuals have had official representation at the festival.
For the first time in Pride Toronto history, folks who identify as bisexual, pansexual, polysexual and sexually fluid have official representation. In fact, Bi+ Pride is the first initiative of its kind within any Pride organization in North America, which may be surprising since around 50 per cent of queer folks identify as bi. Yet unlike lesbians and trans people, who have their own marches leading up to Sunday’s Pride parade, bisexuals have never had official representation.
“When we did community consultations leading up to announcing this year’s Pride, the number one goal was bi visibility,” says Joanna Eaton, Bi+ Pride’s team lead. “I want to invite all bi+ identifying folks to join us. The more people we can get to march, the more visible we will be.”
Eaton, who identifies as bi, has worked with Pride for a number of years. She says bisexuals are often erased by the LGBTQ+ community because of biphobia and being misunderstood.
“A lot of folks get a partner who is the same or different gender, and it’s assumed whoever you’re with, that’s how you identify,” she explains. “You have to come out constantly because people think you just used to be straight and now you’re gay, but that’s not how it goes.”
Last week, users on online bulletin board 4Chan started a campaign urging the LGBTQ+ community to “drop the B” from the acronym. Supporters of the campaign claimed that bisexuality implies only two genders exist and therefore invalidates folks identifying as gender fluid and non-binary.
“This continues to be a discussion point within the queer community. My personal feeling is it gets hung up on a lot of the technical etymology of the word and not the actual usage,” says Julie Bowring, a member of the Toronto Bisexual Network. “I fear that if we come out against the campaign, it might draw more attention to it.”
Bowring says she identifies as bi because that was the word people used when she came out in the 90s. “I definitely was not gay, so I chose bi,” she says. “The reason I continue to use the word is to remind people of that. If I use queer, I feel like it makes me disappear into a large group.”
Eaton also uses bi, although she says the group associated with Pride Toronto chose bi+ to account for the myriad identities that don’t squarely fit into gay, lesbian, trans or straight.
“I don’t think bisexual means only male and female,” Eaton adds. “It means ‘same and different,’ so if I identify as bisexual, my attraction is to people the same as me and different than me. I don’t think it’s exclusive of gender-fluid folks.”
Among younger people who might identify as bi+ is the trend to drop a label altogether and simply use “queer.” Artists like Kehlani, who is slated to perform at the beginning of Pride weekend, came out as queer earlier this year, specifically stating that she is “not bi, not straight.”
When Janelle Monáe came out in April, she identified as a “queer Black woman… someone who has been in relationships with both men and women… a free-ass motherfucker.” The singer says she initially considered herself bisexual, but then later realized that pansexual better represented her sexuality.
Representation undeniably helps, and having celebrities publicly identify as bi+ might encourage others to come out. Bowring says a lot of bi+ folks aren’t active in the LGBTQ+ community because they don’t feel they belong, especially if they’re in straight-presenting relationships.
“I’m married to a man and I identify as female, so when I bring my straight partner to events, people often assume I’m an ally,” she explains. “That’s been a lot of my personal impetus to increase our parade presence.”
In addition to an open invitation to all bi+ identifying folks to march with Bi+ Pride in Sunday’s main parade, the Toronto Bisexual Network is organizing contingents to march in the Trans March and Dyke March. The Pride street fair from Friday to Sunday will include a Bi+ hub for the first time, located on Church between Gould and Gerrard. Folks will find information and educational resources, plus music and a craft workshop.
On Saturday, over at Alexander Parkette next to Buddies in Bad Times, Too Queer: A Bi Visibility Cabaret takes place from 1 to 5 pm. The stage features performance art, spoken word, dance and music with headliner Witch Prophet and others. Nearby, the Bi+ Lounge will offer a licensed reprieve from all the festivities.
When Pride is over, bi+ folks can partake in the Bi Arts Festival Handmade Market in September. The Toronto Bisexual Network also facilitates monthly support groups, brunch meetups and other events.
“We have several hundred members online that connect through our Facebook group. We’re hoping a lot of folks will come out to the march,” Bowring says. “When I joined the Toronto Bisexual Network in 2014, I really wanted to march with a group that identified as bi so I would be visibly bisexual in the parade. I have marched each year since.”