March is Bisexual Health Awareness Month!
As such, OUTMemphis would like to recognize some Bisexual Icons throughout history.
First, here are a few statistics about bisexual health from Movement Advancement Project:
- More women identify as bisexual than men, and people of color are more likely than white people to identify as bisexual.
- Bisexual people comprise more than half (52%) of the lesbian, gay, and bisexual population.
- Bisexual people live in every state and are ethnically and racially diverse.
- Bisexual older adults are less likely to be out.
- Violence, poverty, discrimination, and poor physical and mental health outcomes within the bisexual population are often at higher rates than their lesbian and gay peers.
- All too often, bisexual people are swept into the greater LGB community, their specific disparities made invisible within data about the whole community.
“Bi-cons” in History
Freddy Mercury:
Often thought to be gay, according to this article “it was well known that this icon of rock had had relationships with both men and women.”
It is often believed that the erasure of Mercury’s bisexuality was a product of the time in which he lived. There’s no doubt that him being a mainstream celebrity played a significant part in that.
Frida Kahlo:
According to this article, “Frida Kahlo had affairs with both men and women, including her husband’s mistresses. She has also been linked to movie stars Dolores del Rio, Paulette Goddard and Maria Felix, among others. Her painting Two Nudes in a Forest (1939) clearly shows her attraction and love of women. One of her affairs was said to be with American painter Georgia O’Keeffe.”
Margaret Cho:
According to her own words in this interview, “Nobody has ever really accepted that I’m truly bisexual. Nobody has ever allowed it. It’s still very much a point of argument between anybody that I’ve been with. People just don’t accept it.”
