#jayna tavarez

[readingbibooks]

“Students felt that bisexuality was invisible within LGBTQ+ campus spaces in more ways than one. For example, they noted that their LGBTQ+ spaces were demographically homogeneous, frequented predominantly by cisgender gay and lesbian students. They also felt the LGBTQ+ campus spaces to which they had access upheld very particular depictions of what queer identities should look like, and bisexuality often did not fit into those depictions, additionally, they all noticed a lack of bisexual representation within the programming done by LGBTQ+ offices and organisations. Programmes offered were either completely exclusive of bisexuality or inadequately represented bisexuality when compared with lesbian and gay identities. Overall they were frustrated by the lack of bisexual representation in LGBTQ+ campus spaces. They often needed to take matters into their own hands by hosting educational opportunities around bisexual identities, history, and issues, and creating bisexual-specific spaces. Basically, they felt that as bisexual students, if they wanted bisexual representation, they had no choice but to represent themselves.”

- Jayna Tavarez, The Bi-ble: New Testimonials, Further original narratives and essays about bisexuality

[readingbibooks]

“Students also felt they needed to hide their bisexual identities in order to remain engaged in LGBTQ* campus spaces… Some students noted they didn’t even openly identify as bisexual within LGBTQ* campus spaces. They often felt more comfortable identifying as gay, lesbian, or queer instead of bisexual. Ashlynn falsely identified as a lesbian rather than bisexual in order to ‘avoid the additional stigma’. Similarly, Jeremiah and Sierra felt that openly identifying as gay and queer, respectively, was much easier than identifying as bisexual. Other students, like Rylee, chose to not identify as anything, avoiding disclosing their sexuality entirely, choosing not to answer questions about their sexuality, and not correcting inaccurate assumptions about their sexuality.”

- Jayna Tavarez, The Bi-ble: New Testimonials, Further original narratives and essays about bisexuality

[readingbibooks]

“We were told we [could] only talk about the effects on our lives of being attracted to other women or femmes because “no one is oppressed for being in a heterosexual relationship.” We were accused of internalized homophobia… or being the reasons lesbians are fetishized and making lesbians look bad - that bisexual women were the reason why straight men thought that lesbians were sexually available… I never understood it, but it came up a lot… If you didn’t seem like you were a lesbian, or could be confused for one, then your position was a lot weaker. Your opinion didn’t quite matter as much. You were less likely to be one of authority in the group. Your loyalty to the community was more likely to get questioned. You were more likely to get accused of your ideas being part of the problem. Any time something came up, and you talked about it from the perspective of not being a lesbian, you were more likely to be told that your need to bring that up was part of the problem of why progress wasn’t being made.”

- Rylee, quoted by Jayna Tavarez, The Bi-ble: New Testimonials, Further original narratives and essays about bisexuality

[readingbibooks]

“We need more spaces and opportunities for bisexual people of colour to amplify our unique experiences.

Bisexual people of colour are tasked with navigating both racism and biphobia in many LGBTQ+ spaces - spaces that are supposed to be safe for us to unapologetically exist. We are underrepresented, understudied, underfunded, and undervalued, yet we are critical to the success of the larger LGBTQ+ movement.”

- Jayna Tavarez, The Bi-ble: an anthology of personal essays and narratives about bisexuality

[readingbibooks]

“Bisexual organisations receive a significantly lower amount of funding compared to other LGBTQ+ organisations. According to the Funders for LGBTQ Issues’ 2015 tracking report… the bisexual community receives less than one percent (of total LGBTQ+ funding).”

- Jayna Tavarez, The Bi-ble: an anthology of personal essays and narratives about bisexuality

[readingbibooks]

“Why do LGBTQ+ organisations struggle to find and include bisexual people of colour? Why is there no research on the ways that the intersection of race impacts the way bisexual people experience biphobia? We need to talk about the racialisation of biphobia.”

- Jayna Tavarez, The Bi-ble: an anthology of personal essays and narratives about bisexuality

[readingbibooks]

“In 1991, the Gay and Lesbian Community Action Council conducted the first Bisexual Community Needs Assessment to compile a report listing the wants and needs of bisexual people involved in lesbian and gay activism in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. After interviewing 38 bisexual men and women, the assessment found that participants generally expected more acceptance from the gay and lesbian community than the heterosexual community, which made exclusion from lesbian and gay spaces more hurtful and isolating. Several of the bisexual women noted that they were condemned or excluded, asked to leave lesbian groups, and were discouraged or outright prohibited from speaking at women’s conferences.

And over twenty years later, the 2012 Bisexual Community Needs Assessment could easily be misidentified as the one from 1991. It found that bisexual people still felt a lack of solidarity and inclusion within lesbian and gay communities. One bisexual woman working at an LGBTQ+ organisation reported being consistently read as straight and was asked how she got a job for the organisation as an ally. Another reported that she was consistently referred to as Lesbian Lite™️. There was also a significant gap between how closely bisexual people wanted to feel connected to the LGBTQ+ community, and how closely they actually felt connected to the LGBTQ+ community, solidifying the disconnect between bisexual needs and bisexual realities.”

- Jayna Tavarez, The Bi-ble: an anthology of personal essays and narratives about bisexuality