Thread by @ThisHeadStuff

I'm gonna chat for a while about what it is like to be the B in LGBTQIA. Well most of the time it feels more the b in LbG(t). #pride #bisexuality

See binary concepts are a thing which are simple to understand, so for many people they struggle to get it when you say there is more then just straight or gay! J #pride

It's tough when your sexuality gets erased and derided, esp by those who are Gay and Lesbian. J #Pride

I'm in my early 40s but 20 years ago, it was really tough being BI. Hell I hadn't even heard of the term or knew it was a possibility until I was 20. J #Pride

I first found myself fancying girls when I was 10 and knew by the time I was 11 this was 'wrong', lezzer and dyke were words thrown around as insults in school. J #pride

I didn't fancy any guys at all until I was 15, sure I found
Morten Harket attractive but I put that down to his voice and music rather then anything else. J #pride

I was 15 before I saw a guy who made have that crush reaction, we were on a bus and then it was gone and I put it down as werid and got on with my life. J #pride

At 16/17 I did go out on dates with boys, cos it would be weird not to, but it still felt werid, but I was going by best to be normal, but more women got my notice then men. #pride

I didn't go out with girls, on dates, that wasn't the done thing, there were girls that I was kissing, but it was always so secretive and well taboo. J #pride

When I was old enough to be out and about in the nascent Lesbian scene I learned the term bisexual, I learned it as it was being used to warn about a woman who was at the gig that night. J #Pride

I learned very quickly not to talk about kissing boy/men and what would happen if I did, I would be called confused, a tourist and greedy. J #Pride

and that bi women who do go on to have opposite sex partners and have kids had chosen a side and were then considered straight. J #Pride

Honestly I gave up on trying to 'fit' in with the gay scene in Dublin, back then it just wasn't welcoming to people like me J #Pride

The idea that my sexuality is changed by the person I am in a relationship with is absurd. I still notice people I am attracted to, no matter the gender of the person I am in a relationship with. J #pride

I can't be in a straight or gay relationship, as I am bisexual, if my partner is the same gender as me I am still going to notice cute/hot people who are not the same gender as me and vice versa J #pride

Thankfully times have changed and we are seeing data on what it is like to be #bisexual in Ireland and the impact it can have on us. J #Pride

This was a very intresting peice I read back in 2011 tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108… "
Bi Now, Gay Later: Implicit and Explicit Binegativity Among Irish University Students" J #Pride

Also when @robynochs came to Dublin back in 2010 to teach a weekend of workshops, I found it really informative and empowering. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_Ochs J #Pride

By 2014 we started to see irish research on lgbt folx in Ireland and we started to see what bisexual people were more marginalized then gay and lesbian people. J #Pride

Unfortunately 1 year later we had Marriage Equality referendum and the messaging utterly erased #Bisexual people and we were told while canvassing to not mention being bi. J #Pride

But from that hurtful time, a group of Bi activists, said enough and set about forming @IRLBi which a community and advocacy group. #Pride

And @IRLBi is not Dublin ccentric, it has groups in Glaway, Cork, Limerick and Belfast who have regular meet ups and it has a presence in most #pride parades all over the country.

What's next, I am not sure, I know that there is a @BiConUK in the UK every year and there is a @EuroBiCon maybe Ireland will be ready for it's own BiconIrl soon. J #pride

Bicons tend to have an academic track, a social track, a workshop track and an activist track, and I'd love to see a weekend like that in Ireland. #Pride