Bisexual People Are Fighting Invisibility and Erasure on Twitter

Being the B in LGBT can feel isolating sometimes. Twitter users wanted to change that.Marc Bruxelle

Beginning Wednesday, Twitterers across the globe have been celebrating bisexuality and combatting cultural erasure of their identity through the hashtag #BiTwitter. Sure, things trend on social media all the time, but this time, it's a little different.

After all, our culture—yes, even members of the LG_TQ+ community—like to pretend that bisexuals don't exist.

Here's how GLAAD defines this invisibility: "Bisexual erasure or bisexual invisibility is a pervasive problem in which the existence or legitimacy of bisexuality (either in general or in regard to an individual) is questioned or denied outright."

Last summer, I wrote this blurb for our since-retired We Saw You column after attending PrideFest:

We couldn't quite see your face in the herd of people marching down the center of Fourth Avenue during Sunday's Pride Parade. We nearly missed you among the streams of balloons and bubbles. But while we couldn't see your face, we did see your brown arms holding up a sign that read "Bi Is Beautiful Too." On an emotionally difficult Pride to attend—so soon after the shootings in Orlando targeting a Latino dance night in a gay bar—your royal-blue-and-magenta hand-painted sign quickly brought happy tears to our eyes. It was an important reminder to queer people of color that our sexuality is valid and that there are many identities under the LGBTQ umbrella.

That sign was a reminder that bisexuality and queerness are visible and valid identities—a message that many like me rarely ever hear. To see so many folks, particularly young people, take to Twitter to celebrate these identities was heartwarming and affirming.

Stranger contributor Tobias Coughlin-Bouge wrote about the subject beautifully in his feature about coming out in the Seattle skating community. Be sure to give that a read.

In the meantime, let's take a moment to celebrate members of the bisexual community on Twitter—because their identities are visible and they matter.

And finally:

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