"Bisexuality’s Watershed Political Moment"

The Daily Beast

Many surveys and observations suggest that about 40% of self-identified polys also self-identify as bisexual, compared to just a few percent of the general population. Meanwhile, a 2013 Pew Research study found that bis are the most numerous of the four letters in LGBT, but are much more closeted than either gays or lesbians.

So this article seems relevant. The news hook is that Kate Brown was just sworn in this morning.

Bisexuality’s Watershed Political Moment

Polls show that bisexuality is the least accepted of all sexualities. New Oregon Governor Kate Brown, who is openly bisexual and married to a man, could help change perceptions.

Michael Lloyd / The Oregonian / Landov

On February 18, former Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown (D) will become the first publicly bisexual governor in the United States. Brown’s swearing in comes on the heels of Democrat John Kitzhaber’s resignation of the governorship Friday following allegations of corruption and influence-peddling lobbied against both him and his fiancée Cylvia Hayes. But what’s bad news for Kitzhaber is great news for the future of LGBT political representation in the United States.

And it’s even better news for bisexual Americans who are sorely lacking public visibility at a crucial moment in LGBT history.

...The occasion of the first openly bisexual governor of the United States is a cultural watershed for bisexual people in the United States, who have historically been better represented by celebrities like [David] Bowie than by politicians like Brown.

With same-sex marriage in the United States — which has traditionally been represented as an exclusively gay or lesbian issue — seeming all but inevitable in 2015 and public attention quickly turning to what Time has called “The Transgender Tipping Point,” the “B” in the LGBT is at risk of becoming lost in the shuffle. Brown’s assumption of state leadership in 2015 is a particularly fortuitous opportunity to keep bisexual people in the conversation surrounding LGBT equality, as the country’s focus shifts to the last two letters of that ubiquitous acronym.

...In 2012, the Advocate could only count five openly bisexual state officials including Brown out of the then-90 or so LGBT state-level legislators. That’s a lot less than half.

Since that time, former Arizona State Senator Kyrsten Sinema has become the first out bisexual congresswoman but that’s the highest an openly bisexual person has climbed until now, making Brown the highest-ranking openly bisexual public official in U.S. history.

...Why are bisexual people, in particular, lagging so far behind in terms of their willingness to come out?

Brown’s own story contains one possible answer: Many bisexual men and women fear social exclusion from both straight people as well as lesbians and gay men.

...The Oregonian also reports that, in 2008, a Portland LGBT magazine advised Brown to “butch it up” if she wanted to be taken seriously as an LGBT public official.... And today, the fact that Brown is currently married to a man, Dan Little, is reportedly being raised to question her allegiance to the LGBT community....

Here's the whole article (Feb. 14, 2015).

Also, Washington Post story (Feb. 13).

Christian Science Monitor story (Feb. 15).

KOMO News in Seattle (Feb. 14).

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