Liverpool

BiMedia.org reports:

The website of the Liverpool bisexual group, Mersey Bis, has been updated after a long gap.

The sad news is that it reports that the group is wound up, and they are encouraging anyone from Merseyside and surrounding areas who would have been interested in the group to go along to the Manchester bisexual social-support group instead.

The sad truth is, the Liverpool group shut down a long while ago in response to a lack of members. After bravely meeting monthly for a year they still only had five or six people each session, and understandably decided to call it a day. The website has been frozen with out-of-date information including a duff phone number, and a no-longer-existent PO box, as sadly happens often with websites.

It's even more of a problem where the group runners don't know one another through the peer network of the UK bi scene. I have no idea whether Colchester group is still going, for instance, and suspect that BCN was listing the Newcastle group for twice as long as it was running.

That said, I don't know how we can really improve on the situation.

Stonewall at it again

For the third year in a row Stonewall have helped stiffen the resolve of all those fighting the marginalisation and invisibility of bisexuality with a fine report on the problems and discrimination facing LGB people which makes all its recommendations in terms of what needs to change for 'lesbians and gay men' not to expect to face discrimination in their day-to-day lives. Political parties need to appoint lesbians and gay men to positions of high profile, and so forth.

They did the same thing last year on their social attitudes survey, and the year before in their LG(B) in the media report. It has been pointed out to them in many ways; on panels at public LGBT events; by postcard lobbying; in person to staff members. Alas, they remain resolute in their determination to pretend that everyone is gay or straight with none of the diversity of life in the real world.

This survey was conducted as an interview of 1,600+ people and so - given there are more bis than lesbians and gay men put together - there have to have been a fair number of bisexuals unless the sampling methods were so ropey that Stonewall should be demanding their money back from pollsters YouGov.

That could reveal all kinds of interesting things. There might be interesting gender differences in experiences and expectations. There might be evidence that 'bisexual privelidge' does have some statistical impact. It might show no statistical difference between bi and gay people, which would dispel the 'bi privelige' line. Or it might, like MIND's report into LGB mental health, show the impact that receiving prejudice from both sides has on bisexuals.

Alas, Stonewall's research team and statisticians haven't cared to explore any of that.

1,000 years extra free

This weekend I had the pleasure of co-organising a bi-focused event for LGBT History Month.

The misleadingly named “2,000 Years of Bisexuality” was a two hour long exploration of bisexuality in history from 3,000 years ago to present times. Call it 50% extra free. It was academically rigorous as a talk, with slides, which was something that was only possible thanks to having guest speakers who came up from London for the event. There was even an extensive Q&A with the audience at the end which proved many of them had stayed awake the whole way through; and I'm hoping BCN will run a series of profiles of arguably-bi figures from history following on from it.

About 40 people came along despite the refusal of the local council - let's name and shame those perennialy dodgy on bi issues folks at Manchester Town Hall - to provide support by publicising the event in their History Month literature (they did however for example give ample publicity to a lesbian and gay line dancing event 'for LGBT history month').

What I like most about making this event happen is that it is different from the usual run of bi events in the city and around the UK. It's as accessible to non-bis as to bis, and as relevant to people who are just coming out as bi as to people who have been out for years and can recite their Klein grid scores in their sleep.

The bi community, such as it is, is much better at parties and newbie events and lacks that extra diversity and range in what we put on; this means if you are not part of the perceived cliques it is hard to see why you would keep coming back to events. Widening out the range of things we put on challenges that problem, and this has to be a good thing in growing a wider sense of bisexual identity and community.

Captain on Captain action

The new issue of BCN has another great photo to wow the readers - this one is a somewhat homoerotic pose between John Barrowman and James Marsters, courtesy of the BBC promoting Torchwood season two.

We have a regular problem at BCN in that most of the volunteers we have for coverbi status are female (or have more complex gendered identities but tend to look female). It's good to be getting a little bit more balance in there, and as Torchwood is the best sci fi on telly bar the remake of Galactica, even better to have a couple of hotties out of Torchwood to be doing the gender rebalance with.

Stonewall comes clean?

Stonewall has faced much criticism from bisexuals over the years for being an LGB charity that only ever talks about lesbians and gay men.

A copy of the 2007 Stonewall christmas card has made its way to the bimedia team this week, and finally puts that one to rest: on the back it states, “Stonewall: the lesbian and gay charity”.

That sorts that one out then.

1 in 100?

This weekend's newspapers are reporting - with an undertone of homophobic glee - that an Office for National Statistics poll of 4,000 people found that "only" 1 in 100 described themselves as gay or lesbian. So that's the 1 in 10 figure squished, and the 6% the government used when planning for Civil Partnerships.

Read more closely and it becomes a little clearer.

A further 1 in 100 identified as bisexual and 1 in 200 as "other", while 15% were not recorded because the interviewer chose not to ask the question. Yup, this was not some safely anonymous survey by form with layers of anonymising the interviewees in place, it was members of the public being asked directly by a complete stranger whether they were bi, straight or gay.

The real story here is not "only 1 in 100". It's a remarkable 1 in 40 non-heterosexuals who are so comfortably out about their sexual orientation that they don't feel they have to lie when being interviewed by a complete stranger.

The votes are in...

...a nation waits with bated breath to see whether BiCon will hold the coveted Fifth Place for Best Gay Event Of The Year 2007 in the Pink Paper awards.

I noticed last time I dropped in at the local LG community centre that they have a framed certificate on their wall that they came third in the category they were nominated for last year. Perhaps there will be a shiny framed certificate for display in the reception area of BiCon 2008.

The most influential bis in British politics?

As gay news site PinkNews.co.uk unveils their list of the "50 most influential LGBT people in politics", I find myself writing on BiMedia.org asking: where are the bisexuals?

Sure, there's Lib Dem Party President and London MP Simon Hughes, and Green MSP for Glasgow Patrick Harvie who never returns emails from the bi press. There are a few debatable names in there too: does Michael Portillo count for your definition of bisexuality? He reminds me of a late-night Channel 4 show in about 1990 where Jimmy Somerville did a piece to camera saying "a short message for Cliff Richard. Cliff, if the rumours are true, please, please, please, don't come out you would set the whole movement back years."

But the whole list reflects the relative strengths of the L, G, B and T strands of the queer community. Lots of gay men, quite a smattering of lesbians, not a lot else. A lot of people who we infer are gay men because there really isn't any further evidence and it's not in their interests socially or politically to be anything beyond gay or straight.

But it shouldn't be like this. Every half-decent bit of research out there says there are more bisexuals than lesbians and gay men put together, almost no matter how you happen to define "bi". Bisexual politicians should be making up more than half the list.

Well. Here's hoping 2008 is a year when a few more people in political life can put their heads above the parapet as openly and proudly bisexual politicians.