Bisexuality: Activism, citizenship and queerness

There has been a drive to include bisexuals together with lesbians and gay men, amongst the social movements associated with these groups, and the civil society and state infrastructures with which they engage. However, bisexuality plays out differently to lesbian and gay identities in relation to a number of key political processes. This is partly because of the complex and fluid nature of bisexual identities, which stand in contrast to the bounded and static identities assumed by lesbians, gay men and heterosexuals, and partly because of the fragmented and partially submerged nature of the bisexual population. Claims for bisexual citizenship jostle alongside queer rejections of identity politics and the production of DIY sexual stories which lie outside of rights-based liberationist narratives. Demands for the recognition of bisexual identities are undermined by processes of marginalisation and stigmatisation amongst lesbian, gay and heterosexual actors, as well as, perhaps, by the actions of behavioural bisexuals who have no interest in the public visibility of conveniently private sexual identities. The paper utilises contemporary empirical material gained from interviews with a range of bisexual and queer people the UK and Columbia and participant observation of UK bisexual activism.