By Douglas Hardman
“You’re just confused.” “No, you’re gay. You can’t like guys and girls.” “You’re dating a guy? So, you don’t like girls anymore?” “Bisexuals don’t exist.” I’m sure the list can go on and on, but I think you get where I’m going. While there is mainstream homophobia being spewed throughout the nation, one of the more common hate crimes comes in the form of biphobia.
What some people can’t seem to grasp, like always, is that not everyone is wired the same way. However, there does seem to be a clear “black and white” mentality when it comes to sexuality: you’re straight or you’re gay. Sorry to break the glass ceiling, but you are dead wrong if you think that’s how this works.
Bisexuality, for the uninformed, is a sexuality in which a male or a female finds themselves sexually and/or romantically attracted to both genders. Stop the presses! I know exactly what you’re going to say: “You can’t like both, it doesn’t work like that.” How about you take a step back and let me enlighten you.
Sexuality, like gender, is very much fluid and has many genres: homosexual, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, etc, if you will. It’s also not a choice. Bisexual people do not choose to like both sexes. It’s not like we wake up and say, “You know what? I wanna be a bisexual.” It’s all in our wiring. Also, if you are not bisexual, you do not know what it means to be bisexual and therefore, do not have the right to tell a bisexual person that who they are is wrong.
Why don’t we stop getting ideas about what’s right and wrong from a centuries old book and actually be realistic about the situation. Bisexual people are not a myth; they are very much a reality, especially in the 21st century. To go on an even broader spectrum, people can love whoever they want, whenever they want, in any form that they want. Oh, wait, I forgot: sodomy is okay, but only if you’re straight, right?
To make matters worse, while it is completely awful that the individuals that identify with different sexual orientations have experienced so many hate crimes as it is, the hate crimes are subdivided into categories: homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, etc. Why can’t you just hate us all equally instead of nitpicking and tearing it all apart? It’s not like we’re all in a secret organization bent against all the straights and Christians and plotting world domination. How ridiculous would that be?
Probably just as ridiculous as hating an individual simply because they are different from you. If you probably haven’t realized yet, not everyone is a God-loving, white, middle-class heterosexual. It may sound harsh and that I am a hypocrite because I am “hating” anyone who is straight or religious. I don’t hate people who are straight or religious: I hate people who hate other people for their sexuality. Just because you are on a diet does not mean I can’t have a slice of cake.
The world’s not going to change because I wrote an article in a college newspaper. My only hope is that I can enlighten those who are ignorant to the world around them. Yes, I do very much exist, or else you wouldn’t even be reading this article. You can think whatever it is you want to think about me, but that isn’t going to make me disappear.
Bisexuality is alive and well in the world and it is time they get their recognition. We’re not confused; we’re simply better at loving people. Besides, one’s company, two’s a crowd, and three’s a party. So, you have fun in the crowd while we go throw a killer party.