Bialogue, a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words[bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...](_blank)
'' and ''
dialogue
Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...
'', is an American activist group that started in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, working on issues of local, national, and international interest to the bisexual, fluid,
pansexual
, meaning "all"
, definition = Sexual or romantic attraction to people regardless of gender
, classification = Sexual identity
, parent = Bisexuality
, synonyms =
, associated_terms = Polysexual, queer, heterofl ...
, queer-identified communities and their allies. Bialogue's mission is to dispel myths and
stereotype
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
s about
bisexuality
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whic ...
, address
biphobia
Biphobia is aversion toward bisexuality and bisexual people as individuals. It is a form of homophobia against those in the bisexual community. It can take the form of denial that bisexuality is a genuine sexual orientation, or of negative s ...
and
bisexual erasure
Bisexual erasure or bisexual invisibility is the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or re-explain evidence of bisexuality in history, academia, the news media, and other primary sources.
In its most extreme form, bisexual erasure can includ ...
, educate the public on the facts and realities of bisexuality and advocate for the
bisexual community
The bisexual community, also known as the bi+, m-spec, bisexual/pansexual, or bi/pan/fluid community, includes members of the LGBT community who identify as bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, polysexual and sexually fluid. As opposed to hetero- ...
. Its slogan is "Taking Action not just Offense".
History
Bialogue was founded in 2005 and is the merger of two older
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
–based activist/political groups: BiPAC and the Coalition for Unity and Inclusion.
Founded in 1989, BiPAC (short for the "Bisexual Political Action Committee") was an explicitly militant activist political group dedicated to confronting and eradicating
biphobia
Biphobia is aversion toward bisexuality and bisexual people as individuals. It is a form of homophobia against those in the bisexual community. It can take the form of denial that bisexuality is a genuine sexual orientation, or of negative s ...
and
bisexual erasure
Bisexual erasure or bisexual invisibility is the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or re-explain evidence of bisexuality in history, academia, the news media, and other primary sources.
In its most extreme form, bisexual erasure can includ ...
. In addition to working on issues exclusive to New York City
bisexual community
The bisexual community, also known as the bi+, m-spec, bisexual/pansexual, or bi/pan/fluid community, includes members of the LGBT community who identify as bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, polysexual and sexually fluid. As opposed to hetero- ...
, BiPAC also worked in conjunction with other New York City
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
and progressive groups of their day including
ACT UP
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...
,
Queer Nation
Queer Nation is an LGBTQ activist organization founded in March 1990 in New York City, by HIV/AIDS Activism, activists from AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, ACT UP. The four founders were outraged at the escalation of Violence against LGBT peop ...
, Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization, ''Children of the Rainbow'', ''Por Los Niños'', and the Coalition for a District Alternative (CoDA).
The Coalition for Unity and Inclusion (founded 2000) was a coalition of
bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...
and
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
activists who drew support from reform-minded directors of the more traditional
LGBT organizations Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) organizations may refer to LGBT rights organizations or to groups formed for other purposes:
*LGBT rights organization
*List of LGBT-related organizations
*List of LGBT rights organizations
This is a li ...
, liberal politicians as well as the grassroots bisexual and transgender community. They used such tactics as letter writing campaigns, petition drives and an innovative "feedback campaign" to achieve their goals.
The original impetus for founding both BiPAC and the Coalition for Unity and Inclusion was to combat instances of blatant biphobia within the larger New York City
LGBT community
The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay men, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a comm ...
. Bialogue, which emerged in response to the flap over
the 'Bailey Study' which attempted to invalidate bisexuality itself, has always worked closely with such established bisexual organizations as
BiNet USA
BiNet USA (officially Bi/Net USA, The Bisexual Network of the USA Inc.) was an American national nonprofit bisexual community whose mission was to "facilitate the development of a cohesive network of bisexual communities, promote bisexual visibi ...
, the
Bisexual Foundation
The American Institute of Bisexuality (AIB) is a charity founded on July 23, 1998, by sex researcher, psychiatrist and bisexual rights activist Fritz Klein to promote research and education about bisexuality.
AIB produces the ''Journal of Bisexua ...
and the
Bisexual Resource Center
The Bisexual Resource Center (BRC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, that has served the bisexual community since 1985. Originally known as The East Coast Bisexual Network, it incorporated ...
as well as mainstream LGBT groups such as
GLAAD
GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals ...
.
See also
*
Brenda Howard
Brenda Howard (December 24, 1946 – June 28, 2005) was an American bisexual rights activist and sex-positive feminist. The Brenda Howard Memorial Award is named for her.
Biography
Howard was born in the Bronx, New York City and grew up in S ...
References
External links
*
Bialogue at LiveJournal
{{Bisexuality topics
2005 establishments in New York City
Bisexual culture in the United States
Bisexual organizations
LGBT political advocacy groups in the United States
Organizations established in 2005