The National Day of Bisexual Visibility is coming up this Friday on September the 23rd, and while many of you may not think that another holiday devoted to LGBTQA awareness is really necessary, NDBV is an important day for many people. Bisexuals as a whole are underrepresented in many areas of media, and face unique experiences as individuals who identify as attracted to both men and women.
Because most bisexual people end up in a relationship with only one other individual, it is easy for people to assume that a bisexual person is either homosexual or heterosexual based upon the gender of a bisexual person's partner. Due to this, it is easy for bisexual people to fade into the background and become invisible to society. Being bisexual in a society that assumes that a person is most commonly only attracted to one gender can be ostracizing, and thus NDBV gives bisexuals a chance to say “we are here” not only to all of society, but to each other. Setting aside one day of the calendar year to recognize that a person's sexuality is not entirely defined by the gender of their partner, and to recognize that bisexuality is a real and widely identified with sexual orientation is important.
Furthermore, bisexual visibility is important because our sexual orientation is an important part of our identity, and it does not go away or change just because we become a part of a committed relationship. Celebrating the beauty of attraction being more than just a binary is liberating, and gives people with feelings of attraction to more than one gender the license to be their most authentic self, rather than feel confusion or as if they must conform by giving up a part of themselves. Having bisexuality be visible in society creates the need for the creation of characters in television, cinema, and literature which bisexual people can identify with. By diversifying characters in television, cinema, and literature in this way, we make these forms of entertainment more true to life, and celebrate and educate about the differences that exist among us.
Bisexual people exist and our society, and after having been asked to hide their identities for so long, deserve a chance to say “we are here” to society and to each other. Bisexuals, having fought for people to accept the reality of a sexuality which extends beyond attraction to just one gender, not only want to be considered a possibility in our world, but a reality and an asset. NBVD gives bisexuals the opportunity to be recognized as valuable and real parts of our community, to be represented in the media and in entertainment, and to have the reality of their sexuality, a sexuality which challenges the idea of gender exclusive attraction, be recognized and celebrated alongside all the other, equally real and important, sexual orientations.
