queerbookclub:

I recently finished another collection of Alison Bechdel’s amazing Dykes to Watch Out For. It struck me that her comics dealt with the same issues and divisions regarding assimilation, corporatism, and bi & trans inclusion that queer activists still struggle with today. In 1994. And she was killing it.Essential reading.

Yeah on that bi & trans* inclusion thing … we (the frequently overlapping) trans* & bisexual communities have been working on it together since, what, at least 1974 … so next year it will make 40 years now. Are we there yet?

I recently finished another collection of Alison Bechdel’s amazing Dykes to Watch Out For. It struck me that her comics dealt with the same issues and divisions regarding assimilation, corporatism, and bi & trans inclusion that queer activists still struggle with today. In 1994. And she was killing it.

Essential reading.

Yeah on that bi & trans* inclusion thing … we (the frequently overlapping) trans* & bisexual communities have been working on it together since, what, at least 1974 … so next year it will make 40 years now. Are we there yet?

margotkim:

01. Boy in the Boat—George Honnoh 02. Prove It On Me Blues—Ma Rainey 03. I Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl—Bessie Smith 04. You Can’t Tell The Difference After Dark—Alberta Hunter 05. Lay It On the Line—Gladys Bentley 06. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out—Bessie Smith 07. Foolish Man Blues—Bessie Smith 08. B.D. Woman’s Blues—Bessie Jackson 09. (I Want To Go Where You Go, Do What You Do) Then I’ll Be Happy—Joséphine Baker 10. Am I Blue?—Ethel Waters 11. ‘Tain’t Nobody’s Bizness If I Do—Gladys Bentley 12. Worried Blues—Gladys Bentley 13. Gimme All the Love You Got—Alberta Hunter 14. Stormy Weather—Ethel Waters 15. I Want Every Bit of It—Bessie Smith 16. Hound Dog—Big Mama Thornton

‘Tain’t Nobody’s Business: songs by black women who slept with other women, dressed like men, and sang about it. Not every song on here is about women with women or men with men, but there’s a decent amount of queer blues songs out there. (Also, there is one male artist on here, but “boy in the boat” is the best euphemism for the clit and kaboodle that I’ve heard in a while, and any song that blames WWI for lesbianism because all these women were left by themselves needs to be included.)

Listen* | Download Link One | Download Link Two

*(minus tracks 03, 06, and 15 because 8tracks can’t handle my love of Bessie Smith)

these are darling. and since many of these women had lovers of various genders and gender presentations they would actually in many/(most?) cases be known these days as *ahem* bisexual

Dear Abby: Bisexual Woman Should Show Her Rainbow Colors

bisexual-community:

Strongly recommend everyone click the link and read ALL these wonderful positive comments (including one from well known bisexual activist Robyn Ochs) that people sent in.

And many, many thanks to ‘Dear Abby’ and staff for publishing this intelligent selection of encouraging letters, with No nasty comments for “balance” which is so often the case.

The decades of brave hard work by so many bisexual activists (and just plain everyday bi folks) is slowly bearing fruit. Together we are making it better. Not just for the Bisexual Community, but since the B in LGBT is the largest segment of the Queer Nation, it cannot help but advance the prospects for equal rights and dignity for all of us. ~comments taken from FB’s Bisexual Women

Q: Sorry for this random message, but I guess I’m in need of comfort. I’ve been reading a lot of radfem blogs out of curiosity, and I am ashamed to be bi now. I just feel so discouraged and awful. I’m starting to doubt my attraction to women because it’ll never be valid enough if I’m also attracted to men. Straight men already treat my feelings for women as something silly and fake, but knowing there are lesbians out there who do the same makes me want to go back in the closet and never come out.

A:You can always come here if you need to talk!

… To be honest, I just want to give you a huge hug, and a mug of tea, and talk this over with you in a quiet, warm coffee shop somewhere, and make you feel better about this. Tea helps, trust me. :)

One of the most horrible things to do, is to read the things that the lesbian radfems write. And the only way to not feel horrible from it, is to not read the words they type angrily into their computers.

What you write here, though, is exactly what I feel. And I think it’s what a lot of other bi women feel too.

We have straight men sexualizing us… Seeing our attraction to other women as their own personal edition of Girls Gone Wild, a sexual encyclopedia of hot-girl-on-girl-smut… but any feelings attached to that amazing sex are invalid. Only penis matters enough to validate our sexual experiences.

But we have straight women telling us that “Yeah I’m totally bisexual… when I am drunk,” and how they “kissed a girl and liked it.” And they invalidate our experiences too, telling us, hey, everyone gets a little horny for the opposite sex when we are drunk. Even if, for us, it’s not just when alcohol slips into the mix.

But we have lesbians telling us that we aren’t gay enough. We won’t ever be gay enough. We can date women, and we can love Tegan and Sara, and we can wear plaid, and we can cut our hair short… But we are not gay enough for them, because we can find love with a man too. We even have pan people telling us that we aren’t valid either, because we exclude all the other genders… based on their definition of our word .

But think of a woman that you have always found attractive. Not just beautiful, not just funny, not just a nice person… But a woman that you are genuinely attracted to. Attracted to in the way that you are attracted to men.

Now think of taking her in your arms, and of kissing her, ever so lightly on her lips, and of holding her tightly.

The way that that thought makes you feel will never, ever, ever be touchable by the objectification and dismissal of men, or by the rejection and hate of radfem lesbians.

And let me tell you something…. Radfems are just a small part of feminism. And of the radfems, an even smaller portion are lesbians. I have met amazing lesbians who would definitely date, and have dated, bi women. And I have met amazing men who don’t completely invalidate the feelings and experiences of bi women by making them out to be mere “hot stories” and flings.

There are women out there for us to fall in love with. And even if a few of them think of us as “tainted” because we can be attracted to and love men, it’s not all of them. And it doesn’t make what we feel any less real.

Be who you are, and fight those who want to crush that.

You can always write directly to fnobiphobia who says, I went through what you are now going through and it was awful, and I want to help you to over-come that. :(

No Longer Invisi(BI)le: 10 Bisexual Women of Color to Celebrate

Where are the Bi Women of Color in Black and Women’s History?

We grit our teeth during Black History month, when major media sources highlighted the same (albeit inspirational) black men, excluding women. But it seems we’re not getting a break during women’s history month either, which is currently being dominated by stories of white, straight women’s push for gender equality. So, can LGBT-friendly media do better?

When it comes to highlighting LGBT heroes during both black history month and women’s history month, it seems mainstream queer media goes to bat for for the (white) L,G, and even nowadays the T. But even lists that feature queer women of color, such as this great post from Femme on a Mission, only have a few bisexuals or worse, none at all.

Well here’s what we all agree here at QWOC Media Wire: Ignoring bisexual women of color for women’s history month isn’t going to cut it.

Before I ventured into writing this post I figured bisexual identity was simply something that larger Gay and Lesbian organizations and communities tolerated, or outright condemned. QWOC Media Wire touched on this in our post “Bro’s Before Ho’s” but we only just scratched the surface because there’s just SO much more to talk about. With all the lack of visibility of bisexual people and activism you’d think there isn’t much going on at all. But you’d be wrong–there are plenty of amazing bisexual women of color not only talking about bisexuality but also spearheading bisexual activism! So we’re profiling the hidden B in LGBTQ and singing the praises of these unsung (s)heros. Enjoy.

This is what a bisexual woman looks like. Wisconsin State Representative JoCasta Zamarripa, a delegate at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte NC.

Zamarripa is one of America’s six out bisexual elected State Officials, three of whom are also Obama delegates to this year’s DNC.

Bisexual Activist & Director of Policy for Equality Michigan Emily Dievendorf speaking at Michigan Pride 2012. Says Dievendorf, “I haven’t seen this yet and I may choose not to. Be kind. (And I did say ‘Vagina!’)”

Bisexual candidate Kyrsten Sinema's bid for US Congress from Arizona Continues after primary win

bimagazine:

A long-time out & active member of the LGBTQ community, Kyrsten Sinema is running for the US Congress in Arizona’s new Congressional District 9, based in Phoenix, Tempe and the East Valley. She had previously served in the Arizona State Legislature. First elected in 2004, she was re-elected in 2006 to continue serving central Phoenix in District 15. Having just won a hard fought Democratic Primary, Sinema will run against Vernon Parker, a local councilman and a rare African-American Republican candidate, in the general election .

Sinema was born in Tucson, Arizona, and has lived in Phoenix since 1995. She holds a Juris Doctorate and a Master’s degree in Social Work from Arizona State University, and is an adjunct professor in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University. She also practices criminal defense law in the Phoenix community.

Prior to her work at the Legislature, she was a social worker in the Washington School District. She created and directed the Sunnyslope community’s first Family Resource Center. She focused on community development and organization, adult and community education, grant writing and administration, and advocacy for low-income, minority, refugee, and undocumented families.

She is a member of the Governor’s Commission to Prevent Violence Against Women. Recently, she served as the Chair of Arizona Together, the first group in the country to defeat a same-sex marriage ban on the ballot. She also works for the Center for Progressive Leadership, teaching tomorrow’s political leaders about leadership and the political process. She was honored with the 2005 Stonewall Democrats Legislator of the Year Award, and Time Magazine named Kyrsten one of the “rising stars of American politics” and one of its “40 under 40” in 2010.

Sinema has been endorsed by an impressive list of groups including the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, EMILY’s List and the Human Rights Campaign. After her primary victory Sinema also made the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)’s list of Red to Blue races – a list of the top races to watch in November.

Bisexual Wisconsin State Representative JoCasta Zamarripa Wins Primary

bimagazine:

Wisconsin State Representative JoCasta Zamarripa, a Latina of Mexican-American descent has joined a growing list of out bisexual-identified LGBTQ politicians when she came out in an interview with Georgia Pabst in her “Latino Connection” blog in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

JoCasta Zamarripa defeated challenger Laura Manriquez in the Democratic primary on August 14, 2012 by 66.7% to 33.3%. No Republican has filed to run for this seat for the general election which takes place on 6 November 2012, so it seems all but certain that Representative Zamarripa will go on to fill a 2nd term.

State Rep. Zamarripa (known to her friends as Joey) was born and raised on the south side of Milwaukee. In fact, she continues to live in the house that has been owned by her grandmother for over 30 years. She is a graduate of St. Joan Antida High School and holds a BFA from UW-Milwaukee.

She was 1st elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 2010 from the 8th Assembly District a a densely Hispanic area on on Milwaukee’s south side, where she succeed Pedro Colón, who is now a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge. Prior to her election Zamarripa worked as a Community Outreach Coordinator for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. She served as Board Secretary for 9 to 5 Milwaukee and was a Board Member for Equality Wisconsin. She is also an Obama delegate at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte NC where she will join a record-setting 534 LGBT participants.

I’m working on a story on bisexuality for Aussie teen magazine Girlfriend…

bisexualftw:

rachelhills:

… and I’m looking for bisexual girls aged 14 through 19 to share their thoughts.

The story will be smart, nuanced and non-exploitative, because Girlfriend is super feminist these days. And also because I am the person writing it, and that’s how I roll.

Email at rachel dot hills at gmail dot com if you can help.

Thanks in advance

On twitter, she offered up this slightly problematic trans article as a guide for what the finished bi article will be like.