September 23: We Were Never Confused — We Were Bisexual
🏳️🌈 THIS DAY IN LGBTQ+ HISTORY
For generations, bisexual people have lived in an uncomfortable space between visibility and erasure. Too gay for some straight spaces. Not gay enough for some LGBTQ+ spaces. Told attraction was a phase, confusion, indecision or something that would disappear once the “right” partner came along. September 23 challenges all of that. It is Bi Visibility Day, a day created specifically because bisexual people were tired of being present in the community while somehow remaining invisible.
The observance began in 1999, created by bisexual activists Wendy Curry, Michael Page and Gigi Raven Wilbur. Michael Page had also created the bisexual pride flag the previous year. Pink, purple and blue became visual language for a community demanding something simple but powerful: see us as we actually are.
Bisexual people had already been organizing long before September 23 received its name. In 1990, the first National Bisexual Conference in the United States brought together hundreds of participants, and organizations such as BiNet USA helped build a national bisexual movement. By 1999, creating a day specifically celebrating bisexuality became another step toward establishing an identity that was too often overshadowed even inside gay and lesbian spaces.
That history matters because bisexual erasure can happen without someone ever saying the word bisexual. A bisexual woman dating a man may suddenly be assumed straight. The same woman dating a woman may suddenly be assumed lesbian. A bisexual man may encounter stereotypes questioning whether he is secretly gay. The identity gets rewritten according to whoever the person happens to love.
But your relationship doesn't erase your identity.
Black bisexual people can carry another layer of this experience. Black LGBTQ+ history has often been simplified into neat categories even though real human sexuality has never been that simple. Black writers, artists, activists and everyday people have lived across the spectrum of sexuality while simultaneously navigating racism, cultural expectations and LGBTQ+ discrimination. The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture has documented how Black LGBTQ+ people have sometimes been erased from mainstream accounts of LGBTQ+ history even while contributing significantly to the movement.
That is why visibility has to include complexity.
White bisexual people have also fought for recognition inside movements that historically centered gay men and lesbians. Bisexual activists built organizations, conferences, health programs, publications and political networks because they understood that simply placing a “B” inside LGBTQ+ didn't automatically guarantee bisexual people would be heard.
Bi Visibility Day became an answer to that silence.
And today, the conversation has expanded even further. Bi+ is increasingly used as an umbrella that can include people whose attractions cross more than one gender, including some people who identify as bisexual, pansexual, fluid, queer or with other terminology. Those identities aren't necessarily interchangeable, but the broader language recognizes that attraction and identity don't always fit neatly inside two boxes.
That may be the most luxurious thing about authenticity:
You don't have to shrink yourself into somebody else's definition.
You don't have to prove you're bisexual by dating multiple genders.
You don't become straight because you're in a different-gender relationship.
You don't become gay because you're in a same-gender relationship.
You don't owe anybody a mathematical breakdown of your attraction.
And you certainly don't have to choose a side to make somebody else comfortable.
September 23 is therefore bigger than a flag or an awareness day. It is a reminder that bisexual people have always been part of LGBTQ+ history, activism, culture, families and communities.
They weren't confused.
They weren't halfway anything.
They weren't waiting to choose.
They were already whole.
Bi Visibility Day simply gave the world another opportunity to finally see them.
🏳️🌈 Know the history. Respect the identity. Challenge the stereotypes. Make room for the B. And never mistake somebody else's complexity for confusion.
I AM ME INC.
This Day in LGBTQ+ History is presented by I Am Me Inc. as part of our commitment to informing, empowering, connecting and celebrating LGBTQ+ people and our Allies.
▶️ YouTube: @iammeinc234
Our History. Our Voices. Our Legacy.
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