There was a time — long enough ago that I don’t quite remember it, but not so long ago that no one remembers it — when the lines between “gay” and “bisexual” were not so clearly defined. To have queer attractions, period, was to be tainted by gayness; having hetero attractions as well wasn’t going to save you if you were caught by the cops during a raid on a gay bar. Which is why it shouldn’t actually surprise anyone that bisexuals are deeply embedded in the history of queer activism: it was a bi man who founded the first queer student university group in the US; it was a bi woman who organized the protest march that eventually gave birth to what we now call Pride.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, both of these queer luminaries eventually became frustrated with the biphobia that became more evident within the movement as gays and lesbians began to gain mainstream visibility and the first hints of acceptance; both of these luminaries eventually became involved in bi activism as a way to protest their status as a marginalized group within a marginalized group.
And yet even so: it was bisexuals who laid the building blocks in what would eventually become a robust queer Pride movement. It was bisexuals who organized, who put their safety and well-being at risk, to fight for the rights of queer people everywhere.
I have long had a somewhat fraught relationship with Pride. Perhaps you have too. As a bi woman who has primarily dated men, I have long felt anxious about whether I was “enough” for Pride, as though this celebration of liberation was a measure of my cred rather than an invitation to freedom. So it is heartening to go into this month remember that my people have always been a part of the movement; that the movement was, in many ways, built by people like me.
A bisexual woman created Pride. Pride would not exist without her. Let’s remember that as we rally for a world where everyone is free to pursue their happiness and none of these labels really matter.
Brenda Howard. Glad she's still remembered.
The bisexual contingent in the 90's had a lot of memories of her from when I used to attend the marching part of Pride.