15

Manchester's bisexual social-support group BiPhoria is fifteen this month. We'll have a bash this weekend to celebrate and to help reach out to more new people.

That makes us the longest running bi group in the UK that is still going - I'm not sure whether to be proud or sad about that. The "original" UK bi groups were in London and Edinburgh, in the mid 1980s. London's LBG fell by the wayside about five years ago and EBG in Edinburgh nearly a decade ago, though there's a new EBG which was set up a few years later. BiPhoria itself came out of a move toward joint working by a men's bi group and a women's bi group, both of which closed down in the 1990s.

Overall the network of bi support and social organisations is flourishing in a way it has not done for some time: new groups springing up in Swansea and Cardiff; Sheffield blossoming and more. But there's still no-one employed to work in or with the bi community specifically at any level, so the momentum may fade as quickly as it grows. Local groups that are sustained over time seem to depend on core committed activists who get something worthwhile out of carrying on.

So Manchester's fifteenth birthday reflects that a decade and a half ago I decided to set down some roots in the city, and that I had a personal investment in wanting there to be a strong bi scene so people who didn't fit the binaries well had a space to find friends and acceptance.

That's not all you need though: in helping get things like the Cardiff LGB youth group going, I'd made mistakes and learned basic skills in doing publicity and running group space.

That leads me to one of the areas where I think we often fail in getting bi groups up, running and then sustained. Someone will pop up and say "I want to run a bi group in Bloggstown" and we will simply encourage them to do so, maybe help with some flyers and websites or advice on how to find a suitable venue. If you happen to have the right skills for group work that's great, but if not it might be best to first find a local LGBT organisation and volunteer there for a few months: building your personal contacts in the community along the way but also getting peer support and advice first-hand. Until we organise bi group runners away weekends, of course!

Rebranding?

I’m not sure where it has come from, but I love the way bits of the internet seem to be slyly rebranding 23/9 as Bi Visibility Day. "International Celebrate Bisexuality Day" is a hell of a mouthful as a name, and a little nebulous as a concept: what do you do for International Celebrate Bisexuality Day ? Are you being celebratory enough? International enough?

Whereas Bi Visibility Day, you could sensibly mark with a bi resources stall in a bar or student union foyer, with flyering local gay or straight venues, with a balloon launch outside your town hall, or whatever.

The only downside I can see is where ICBD sounded like a type of Russian nuclear weapon, BVD sounds more like something you need to go to the clinic to get treated. But the shorter name will in itself be less in need of having a shorthand form.

We’ve had ten years of 23/9 being ICBD. I love the subtle shift in the name, and I think ten years on is a great time to start using a new name for the date that can inspire new forms of visibility activism.

One step forward

As I wrote about few months ago, we for the first time had a bi segment at the local Town Hall's annual LGBT day.

The report has just come out, a six page glossy colour thing. Very shiny and pretty.

Half a page is on bi inclusion, drawn from the workshop :o) this can only be a good thing, putting about fifteen top tips in front of many people who work in and with the LGBT communities across Greater Manchester.

Otherwise the workshop reports are as bi marginalising as ever though - headings on "Lesbian and Bi Women" that lead to reports that talk exclusively about lesbians, and so forth.

But still: one step forward.

I turn on the box, it's like punk never happened

While the big Pride festival settles across Manchester for the weekend, outside the sprawling mass of the gay village there is a small 'free' Pride event in parallel.

Of course, like the NHS it's not free, simply free at the point of use and the ways the money get there are a bit more hidden away.

Part of the incoherent mission of the alternative event is to recreate the spirit of the 1990s when Manchester Pride in its various incarnations didn't have the gated area that exists now.

And fair play to them, they have got one bit of the 90s spirit right. Back in the 90s, Pride - or Mardi Gras as it was - never invited any of the bi groups running in the city to take part: sure enough, just as we weren't invited there then, we weren't invited to this rose-tinted take on 90s Pride now.

There are a smattering of things wrong with the big Pride, or things that you might equally do differently, but I do like that even if we have to pay for a stall, these days when Pride are putting on a parade or an exhibition, at last the bis are invited to the ball.

Paint the city purple

Manchester Pride kicks off and gosh, I've been going to them off and on for fifteen years now I think.

Back then there was no gated area and a consequently higher incidence of general homophobic abuse and knife crime and such in the village, it was a determinedly lesbian and gay event with the bis not on the posters or the guest lists.

Even a year or three ago, there were biphobic teeshirts on sale, and the only bi stuff on display was on the bi stall.

This year - records broken all around as four stalls have bi specific materials on them (BiPhoria, Lib Dems, Unison, Albert Kennedy Trust) and a smattering of people arrive at the bi stall who we've never met but who are variously wrapped in the bi flag, wearing pink-purple-and-blue dog tags, have Bi Pride wristbands or in one fabulous case wearing a checked dress in the colours of the bi flag. Awesome.

Of course that's still about a hundred stalls with no bi stuff. But oh, the difference in not being quite alone.

BiCon went really well

I think there were about 230-240 people this year: very good for Worcester, where there isn't the kind of pool of local people that Manchester or London can soak up to boost attendance "on the day".

I'd put in to run two sessions, one of which was taken: the CoverBis session. I'm pleased to say we seem to have a good pool of pretty new coverbi images for BCN for the coming year :) It also seemed to go OK so far as putting photographees at their ease is concerned - wasnt sure how rusty I'd be as the last few years other people have led on this session.

The one not taken was on running local bi groups. Ah well, it's been done most years recently.

97... and 97A

Issue 97 of BCN is out just in the nick of time for BiCon - and 97A is back from the print shop too.

97A is the BiCon special which is a kind of 'taster' BCN that has developed over the last few years, with a mix of the best stuff from the magazine and things that it is particularly helpful for newcomers to BiCon to be able to understand ("what's polyamory?", "what is this LiveJournal thing?" and such). Along with a plug for september23.bi.org that I hope might inspire some more activity for this year's ICBD.

It started in 2003 as a simple sheet with local and national groups contact details and has grown to what I think of as a good mix - but feedback on it would be very welcome, especially from first-timers at BiCon. Preferably early enough before next BiCon that we can incorporate any changes :D

BiMedia

Last weekend was edit the BCN site weekend, this weekend is fix the timeout bug on BiMedia weekend. Little by little it's getting there.