the january ‘84 issue of the bi women’s quarterly begins by discussing the bisexual chic trend of the 1970′s. it says that “the media have picked up on people who choose lovers of both sexes for the sheer fashion of it, and describe them as bisexual chic, either silly or exploitative. the general feeling seems to be that no one can really be attracted to men and women in the same way. certainly not for very long, anyway.”
i find it interesting how nearly 50 years later, bisexuals are still grappling with this kind of media stereotyping and homophobia! as much visibility as we have gained, the “bisexual chic” stereotype has turned into the “college bisexual” or “bisexual for attention/headline grabbing” or “bisexuality is a trend” stereotypes.
i don’t know if the stereotype originated in the 70′s. i doubt that. but that mainstream heterosexual media conceptualization of bisexual celebrities has carried through to this day. interesting to see that the media still perceives of us as sensationalists who love being trashy and exploitative for attention.
According to Anything That Moves, September 23rd was declared Celebrate Bisexuality Day by Wendy Curry of BiNET USA, Michael Page (the man who created the bisexual pride flag), and Gigi Raven Wilbur, a bi trans woman and activist based in Texas! It was first launched on September 23rd, 1999.
a lesbian couple in front of the white house at the march on washington for lesbian gay and bi equal rights and liberation, photographed by elvert barnes, april 1993
Every day I learn something new about queer history.
I feel… ashamed? I didn’t know any of this
What a legend
Re-reblogging for the violin costume.
One of his pro routines was a Village People medley, which was a big fucking deal given how conservative skate judges tend to be. It was so beautiful seeing him skating out and proud by his own decision. (Two others had been outed by palimony suits, but he CHOSE and he was beautiful).
Pride month is coming up, so here’s a reminder that the Stonewall riots (in which trans women of color fought for us to have rights) wasn’t about marriage equality, it was about police brutality.
and that the fight for marriage equality wasn’t about being heteronormative it was about lgbt couples being able to have the same legal rights as straight couples regarding their relationship especially during the aids epidemic. it was so that lgbt people could be with their partners while they died.
while i believe OP’s intentions are good, this is what i mean about tumblr really not doing a minute’s worth of research on the Stonewall Uprising.
trans women of color did not fight for gay people; twoc fought alongside gay people. the Stonewall Inn was not a trans bar (maybe you’re thinking of the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, which did take place in a gathering place for trans women, and also happened several years before and on the other side of the country from Stonewall).
it was the call to action from a butch lesbian – most people say she was Stormé DeLarverie, a black and biracial butch lesbian – that galvanized the crowd into action that night.
the only photograph we have of the first night of the riots is of the homeless gay youth who slept in the nearby Christopher Park fighting with police.
even Marsha P. Johnson (most likely one of the women OP references) corrected anyone who claimed she started the Uprising – she didn’t even arrive at Stonewall until nearly forty minutes after the beginning of the raid.
the Stonewall Inn wasn’t a trans women’s bar; it was a mafia-owned bar of questionable repute that was known for not being exclusive like many gay social gatherings were at the time; because of this, its clientele came from many walks of life: trans women of color, yes, but also gay men and lesbians and drag kings and queens and the street kids from the park.
there were upwards of 150 people when the Uprising began, and hundreds and hundreds of participants over the course of the next several nights. many of them were people who wouldn’t have normally been found in the Stonewall Inn but who lived in Greenwich Village.
to act as though the Stonewall Uprising was the sole work of a small number of TWOC is ahistorical at best, and is at worst a lie that’s been sold to you by people on tumblr who want you to hate gay men and lesbians for never fighting for their rights and making other groups do the dirty work for them.
i think my issue is that this post leaves out part of the equation. yes, during the Stonewall Uprising trans women fought for gay men and lesbians. they also fought alongside gay men and lesbians. and gay men and lesbians fought for and alongside trans women. the participants of the Uprising didn’t come from one single group, and to act as if they did does a disservice to everyone involved.
Rush's tumblr archive 