Bisexuality In The United States

This article addresses the history of bisexuality in the United States. It covers this history beginning in 1892, which is when the first English-language use of the word "bisexual" to refer to sexual orientation occurred.

Early history

The first English-language use of the word "bisexual" referring to sexual orientation was by the American neurologist Charles Gilbert Chaddock in his 1892 translation of the 7th edition of Krafft-Ebing's seminal work ''Psychopathia Sexualis. '' Prior to this, "bisexual" typically referred to reproductive hermaphrodites, especially in botany. Under any label, openly bisexual people were rare in early American life. One notable exception was the openly bisexual poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, who received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for ''The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver'' in 1923.Pulitzer site
Retrieved December 9, 2010 The 19th century poet Walt Whitman is usually described by biographers as either bisexual or homosexual in his feelings and attractions. In the early 20th century, during the Harlem Renaissance, blues singers Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith made no secret about their relationships with both men and women and songs like "Sissy Man Blues", "Freakish Blues" and Rainey's "Prove It on Me" spoke openly of homosexual and bisexual relationships.

Early film, being a cutting-edge medium, also provided opportunity for bisexuality to be expressed. In 1914 the first documented appearance of bisexual characters (female and male) in an American motion picture occurred in ''A Florida Enchantment'', by Sidney Drew. However, due to the censorship legally required by the Hays Code, the word bisexual could not be mentioned and almost no bisexual characters appeared in American film from 1934 until 1968.

Bisexual Americans were given some visibility in the research of Alfred Kinsey (who was himself bisexual) and his colleagues in the late 1940s and early 1950s; they found that 28% of women and 46% of men had responded erotically to or were sexually active with both women and men.

Their research also found that 11.6% of white males (ages 20–35) had about equal heterosexual and homosexual experience/response throughout their adult lives, and that 7% of single females (ages 20–35) and 4% of previously married females (ages 20–35) had about equal heterosexual and homosexual experience/response for this period of their lives. As a result of this research, the earlier meanings of the word "bisexual" were largely displaced by the meaning of being attracted to both women and men. However, Kinsey himself disliked the use of the term bisexual to describe individuals engaging in sexual activity regardless of gender, preferring to use "bisexual" in its older, biological sense of reproductive hermaphrodites, saying, "Until it is demonstrated hattaste in a sexual relation is dependent upon the individual containing within his icanatomy both male and female structures, or male and female physiological capacities, it is unfortunate to call such individuals bisexual" (Kinsey et al., 1948, p. 657).

Late 20th century

1960s

LGBT political activism became more prominent in this decade. The first public protests for equal rights for gay and lesbian people were staged at governmental offices and historic landmarks in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., between 1965 and 1969.LGBT Civil Rights, UW Madison
. Housing.wisc.edu (1969-06-28). Retrieved on 2010-11-30. In D.C., protesters picketed in front of the White House, Pentagon, and the U.S. Civil Service Commission. One woman at the second White House picket of those protests, J.D., identified herself as a bisexual.

In 1966, bisexual activist Robert A. Martin (aka Donny the Punk) founded the Student Homophile League at Columbia University and New York University. In 1967 Columbia University officially recognized this group, thus making them the first college in the United States to officially recognize a gay student group. Activism on behalf of bisexuals in particular also began to grow, especially in San Francisco. One of the earliest organizations for bisexuals, the Sexual Freedom League in San Francisco, was facilitated by Margo Rila and Frank Esposito beginning in 1967. Two years later, during a staff meeting at a San Francisco mental health facility serving LGBT people, nurse Maggi Rubenstein came out as bisexual. Due to this, bisexuals began to be included in the facility's programs for the first time.

The Stonewall Rebellion, considered the beginning of the modern LGBT rights movement, occurred at the Stonewall bar in 1969. Bar patrons, including bisexuals, stood up to the police during a raid. In commemoration of this, the next year the first LGBT pride march was held. Bisexual activist Brenda Howard is known as the ''"Mother of Pride"'', for her work in coordinating the first LGBT Pride march, and she also originated the idea for a week-long series of events around Pride Day which became the genesis of the annual LGBT Pride celebrations that are now held around the world every June.Channel 13/WNET Out! 2007: Women In the Movement
The Gay Pride Issue: Picking Apart The Origin of Pride
Additionally, Howard along with the bisexual activist Robert A. Martin (aka Donny the Punk) and gay activist L. Craig Schoonmaker are credited with popularizing the word "Pride" to describe these festivities.Dynes, Wayne R
Pride (trope), Homolexis
Bisexual activist Tom Limoncelli later stated, "The next time someone asks you why LGBT Pride marches exist or why GBTPride Month is June tell them 'A bisexual woman named Brenda Howard thought it should be.In Memoriam – Brenda Howard
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1970s

Bisexuals became more prominent in the media in the 1970s. In 1972 bisexual activist Don Fass founded the National Bisexual Liberation group in New York City, which issued ''The Bisexual Expression'', most likely the earliest bisexual newsletter. In 1973 bisexual activist Woody Glenn was interviewed by a radio show of the National Organization for Women on WICC in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 1974, both ''Newsweek'' and ''Time'' magazines ran stories on "bisexual chic", bringing bisexuality to mainstream attention as never before. In 1976 the landmark book ''View from Another Closet: Exploring Bisexuality in Women'', by Janet Mode, was published.

Bisexuals were also important contributors to the larger LGBT rights movement. In 1972, Bill Beasley, a bisexual activist in the civil rights movement as well as the LGBT movement, was the core organizer of the first Los Angeles Gay Pride March. He was also active with the Gay Liberation Front. In 1975, activist Carol Queen came out as bisexual and organized GAYouth in Eugene, Oregon. In 1977 Alan Rockway, a psychologist and bisexual activist, co-authored America's first successful gay rights ordinance put to public vote, in Dade County, Florida. Anita Bryant campaigned against the ordinance, and Rockway began a boycott of Florida orange juice, which she advertised, in response. The San Francisco Bisexual Center also helped sponsor a press conference with lesbian activists Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, and pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock, in opposition to Bryant. Bisexual activist Alexei Guren founded the Gay Teen Task Force in Miami, Florida, in response to Bryant's campaign. The Florida Citrus Commission canceled her contract as a direct response to this pressure. In 1979, Dr. Marvin Colter and John Soroczak co-founded Arete, The Bisexual Center of Southern California, in Whittier, California, a support and social group for bisexuals, which marched in the 1982 Los Angeles Gay pride. John Soroczak, a psychotherapist, facilitated the first bisexual rap group at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center in 1994. Also in 1979 A. Billy S. Jones, a bisexual founding member of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, helped organize the first black gay delegation to meet with President Jimmy Carter's White House staff. Jones was also a core organizer of the 1979 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, and "Third world conference: When will the ignorance end?", the first national conference for gay and lesbian people of color.

The bisexual movement had its own successes as well. Most notably, in 1972 a Quaker group, the Committee of Friends on Bisexuality, issued the "Ithaca Statement on Bisexuality" supporting bisexuals. The Statement, which may have been "the first public declaration of the bisexual movement" and "was certainly the first statement on bisexuality issued by an American religious assembly", appeared in the Quaker ''Friends Journal'' and '' The Advocate'' in 1972.

In 1976, Harriet Levi and Maggi Rubenstein founded the San Francisco Bisexual Center. It was the longest surviving bisexual community center, offering counseling and support services to Bay Area bisexuals, as well as publishing a newsletter, ''The Bi Monthly'', from 1976 to 1984. In 1978, bisexual activist Dr. Fritz Klein introduced the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid in his book ''The Bisexual Option: A Concept of One-Hundred Percent Intimacy'', in which he examined the incidence and nature of bisexuality, the attitudes of bisexual persons, and the rewards of bisexuality. Bisexual activism also began to spread beyond the coasts, as from 1978 until 1979, several Midwestern bisexual groups were created, such as One To Five (founded by Scott Bartell and Gary Lingen for Minneapolis/St.Paul, Minn), BI Women Welcome in Minneapolis, The BI Married Men's Group in the Detroit suburbs, and BI Ways in Chicago.

1980s

In the 1980s AIDS began to affect the LGBT community, and bisexual people took an important role in combating it. In 1981 bisexual activists David Lourea and Cynthia Slater presented safer-sex education in bathhouses and BDSM clubs in San Francisco. Also in 1981, bisexual activist Alexei Guren, on the founding board of the Health Crisis Network (now CareResource) in Miami, Florida, began outreach and advocacy for Latino married men who have sex with men. In 1984, David Lourea finally persuaded the San Francisco Department of Public Health to recognize bisexual men in their official AIDS statistics (the weekly "New AIDS cases and mortality statistics" report), after two years of campaigning. Health departments throughout the United States began to recognize bisexual men because of this, whereas before they had mostly only recognized gay men. Bisexual activists also fought for the recognition of women in the AIDS epidemic. From 1984 until 1986, bisexual activist Veneita Porter, of the Prostitute's Union of Massachusetts and COYOTE ( Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics), advocated for women, transgender people, and injection drug users with AIDS. In 1985, Cynthia Slater, who was HIV-positive, organized the first Women's HIV/AIDS Information Switchboard. This sort of activism was particularly important for bisexuals as they were often blamed for spreading AIDS to their heterosexual partners. For example, in 1987, ''Newsweek'' portrayed bisexual men as "the ultimate pariahs" of the AIDS epidemic, and bisexual activist and person with AIDS Alan Rockway of BiPOL was quoted speaking against the stereotype. An October 1989 ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine article that stereotyped bisexual men as dishonest spreaders of AIDS led to a letter-writing campaign by the New York Area Bisexual Network (NYABN). ''Cosmopolitan'' has printed no articles defaming bisexuals since the campaign.

The bisexual movement enjoyed some important firsts during the 1980s. The Boston Bisexual Women's Network, the oldest existing bisexual women's group, was founded in 1983 and began publishing their bi-monthly newsletter, ''BI Women''. It is the longest-existing bisexual newsletter in the US. Also in 1983, BiPOL, the first and oldest bisexual political organization, was founded in San Francisco by bisexual activists Autumn Courtney, Lani Ka'ahumanu, Arlene Krantz, David Lourea, Bill Mack, Alan Rockway, and Maggi Rubenstein. In 1984, BiPOL sponsored the first bisexual rights rally, outside the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. The rally featured nine speakers from civil rights groups allied with the bisexual movement. Also in 1984, the First East Coast Conference on Bisexuality (which was also the first regional bisexual conference in the US) was held at the Storrs School of Social Work at the University of Connecticut, with about 150 people participating. Participants in the conference then founded the East Coast Bisexual Network in 1985, which later was renamed the Bisexual Resource Center (BRC) in 1993. In 1987, the East Coast Bisexual Network established the first Bisexual History Archives with bisexual activist Robyn Ochs' initial collection; archivist Clare Morton hosted researchers. Also in 1987, the Bay Area Bisexual Network, the oldest and largest bisexual group in the San Francisco Bay Area, was founded by Lani Ka'ahumanu, Ann Justi and Maggi Rubenstein.

In 1988, Gary North published the first national bisexual newsletter, called ''Bisexuality: News, Views, and Networking''. In 1989 Cliff Arnesen testified before the U.S. Congress on behalf of bisexual, lesbian, and gay veteran's issues. He was the first veteran to testify about bisexual, lesbian, and gay issues and the first openly non-heterosexual veteran to testify on Capitol Hill about veteran's issues in general. He testified on May 3, 1989, during formal hearings held before the U.S. House Committee on Veterans Affairs: Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. He also testified before the same Subcommittee on May 16, 1990, as part of an HIV/AIDS panel.
Bisexual people also continued to be active in the larger LGBT movement. In 1986 BiPOL's Autumn Courtney was elected co-chair of San Francisco's Lesbian Gay Freedom Day Pride Parade Committee; she was the first openly bisexual person to hold this sort of position in the United States. In 1987 a group of 75 bisexuals marched in the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, which was the first nationwide bisexual gathering. The article
The Bisexual Movement: Are We Visible Yet?
, by Lani Ka'ahumanu, appeared in the official Civil Disobedience Handbook for the March. It was the first article about bisexuals and the emerging bisexual movement to be published in a national lesbian or gay publication.http://www.lanikaahumanu.com/OUT%20OUTRAGED.pdf The North American Bisexual Network, the first national bisexual organization, was first thought of at this gathering, though not founded until three years later (see below.) NABN would later change its name to BiNet USA. Also in 1987, Barney Frank became the first U.S. congressman to come out as gay of his own volition; he was inspired in part by the death of Stewart McKinney, a closeted bisexual Republican representative from Connecticut. Frank told ''The Washington Post'' that after McKinney's death there was, "An unfortunate debate about 'Was he or wasn't he? Didn't he or did he?' I said to myself, I don't want that to happen to me."

1990s

The oldest national bisexuality organization in the United States, BiNet USA, was founded in 1990. It was originally called the North American Multicultural Bisexual Network (NAMBN), and had its first meeting at the first National Bisexual Conference in America. This first conference was held in San Francisco, and sponsored by BiPOL. Bisexual health was one of eight workshop tracks at the conference, and the "NAMES Project" quilt was displayed with bisexual quilt pieces. Over 450 people attended from 20 states and 5 countries, and the mayor of San Francisco sent a proclamation "commending the bisexual rights community for its leadership in the cause of social justice", and declaring June 23, 1990, Bisexual Pride Day. The conference also inspired attendees from Dallas to create the first bisexual group in Texas, called BiNet Dallas.

The bisexual movement also became more accepted as part of established institutions. In 1990, Susan Carlton offered the first academic course on bisexuality in America at UC Berkeley, and in 1991, psychologists Sari Dworkin and Ron Fox became the founding co-chairs of the Task Force on Bisexual Issues of Division 44, the gay and lesbian group in the American Psychological Association. In 1997, bisexual activist and psychologist Pat Ashbrook pioneered a national model for LGBT support groups within the Veterans Administration hospital system.

Bisexual literature became more prominent in the 1990s. In 1991, the Bay Area Bisexual Network began publishing the first national bisexual quarterly magazine, ''Anything That Moves: Beyond the Myths of Bisexuality'', founded by Karla Rossi, who was the managing editor of the editorial collective until 1993. 1991 also saw the publication of one of the seminal books in the history of the modern bisexual rights movement, '' Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out'', an anthology edited by Loraine Hutchins and Lani Ka'ahumanu. After this anthology was forced to compete (and lost) in the Lambda Literary Awards under the category Lesbian Anthology, and in 2005, ''Directed by Desire: Collected Poems'' a posthumous collection of the bisexual Jamaican American writer June Jordan's work had to compete (and won) in the category "Lesbian Poetry", BiNet USA led the bisexual community in a multi-year campaign eventually resulting in the addition of a Bisexual category, starting with the 2006 Awards. In 1995, Harvard Shakespeare professor Marjorie Garber made the academic case for bisexuality with her book ''Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life'', in which she argued that most people would be bisexual if not for "repression, religion, repugnance, denial, laziness, shyness, lack of opportunity, premature specialization, a failure of imagination, or a life already full to the brim with erotic experiences, albeit with only one person, or only one gender". In 1997, bisexual activist Dr. Fritz Klein founded the ''Journal of Bisexuality'', the first academic, quarterly journal on bisexuality. However, other media proved more mixed in terms of representing bisexuals. In 1990, a film with a relationship between two bisexual women, called ''Henry and June'', became the first film to receive the NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). But in 1993, bisexual activist Sheela Lambert