The debate of sorts on effectively ditching Bi from the LGBT call letters to Bi+ or so on is on in earnest and now has reached the UK.
LGBT students have voted to replace the word bisexual with ‘Bi+’ and redefined bisexuality to be inclusive of people who aren’t sexually attracted to both men and women.
The news comes from the National Union of Students’ LGBT Conference, which took place earlier this month.
The conference passed a motion to rename its Bi caucus and Bi students’ rep and rewrite all documentation about bisexual people to instead refer to ‘Bi+’.
The motion explains that “if a person experiences any form of attraction to more than one gender identity, they fall under the Bi+ umbrella”.
Controversially, the new definition of ‘Bi+’ includes people who are not sexually attracted to both men and women – for instance, people who are attracted to women as well as non-binary people.
The news comes from the National Union of Students’ LGBT Conference, which took place earlier this month.
The conference passed a motion to rename its Bi caucus and Bi students’ rep and rewrite all documentation about bisexual people to instead refer to ‘Bi+’.
The motion explains that “if a person experiences any form of attraction to more than one gender identity, they fall under the Bi+ umbrella”.
Controversially, the new definition of ‘Bi+’ includes people who are not sexually attracted to both men and women – for instance, people who are attracted to women as well as non-binary people.
“A person does not have to experience all forms of attraction (sexual Romantic, sensual, aesthetic or platonic) towards multiple gender identities to still fall under the Bi+ umbrella.”
On its Twitter account, the NUS LGBT+ Campaign – which doesn’t seem in a hurry to rename itself the NUS LGB+T+ campaign – confirmed: “Motion 406: Bye Bi, Welcome Bi+ has passed.”
As Heat Street notes, students at the LGBT conference also tabled a motion to rename the black students’ caucus to the QTIPOC caucus, because “the current definition of Black [is not] inclusive”. The new acronym apparently stands for “Queer Trans Intersex People of Colour”.
Students claimed that “the use of the term ‘black’ as an umbrella can present itself as a barrier and a silencing mechanism, to the voices of ethnically black individuals within the student movement.”
The motion was “sent to Black caucus following a procedural motion”, but the national students’ body has already started using the new acronym.
Elsewhere, students accepted a motion to ban the word ‘Poly’ as an abbreviation for Polyamory, because it apparently “erases the identities and struggles of Polynesians”. Students will use ‘Ply’ instead.
Changes are a coming folks so we better get ready for identities as we know it. The upcoming Bisexual US conference I am sure will also be looking at this more inclusion matter as some activists and allies are tired of just being relegated to being just allies and want more visibility.
The bisexual umbrella may have to be changed I guess, let us see.
Peace & tolerance
H
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