9 Bisexual Women Who Are Making History
At least one in three young people say they aren’t 100% heterosexuall, according to a recent survey by YouGov. For many — women especially — coming out as bisexual, for example, can be met with dismissal. For whatever reason, there are a whole host of misconceptions about what it means to be bisexual, including really hurtful ideas, like that it’s only a phase (it’s not), or that it becomes invalid if you date someone who identifies as your opposite gender.
According to the Movement Advancement Project’s 2016 Report “Invisible Majority: The Disparities Facing Bisexual People and How to Remedy Them”, those who identify as bisexual actually make up the majority of the LGB community — but remain the least visible. Everyday bi erasure can result in depression, unhealthy relationships, and even subpar treatment at the doctor’s office. With the nearly 5 million adults in the U.S. alone identifying as bisexual, it’s well past time to shut down the hurtful rhetoric and ideas surrounding bisexuality.
The reality, as this excellent chart shows, is that being bisexual just means you’re romantically and/or sexually attracted to “people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree.” The way that identity manifests itself, as with any orientation, varies, and there’s no reason to police or qualify the way bisexuality or any orientation should most make sense. When someone tells you how they identify, that’s that.
One thing is for sure: Being bisexual is hardly the only interesting thing about anyone, and the list of seriously impressive people who happen to identify as bisexual is pretty long. In honor of both Bisexual Health Awareness Month and Women’s History Month, we’ve teamed up with GLAAD to highlight nine women who have changed history — and happen to identity as bisexual.
Ready to leave your own mark on history? Use the hashtag #BiHealthWeek to share why awareness and social health for everyone matters to you.
Courtesy of Jocasta Zamarripa1/10JoCasta Zamarripa
The first Latina woman elected to Wisconsin’s legislature, JoCasta Zamarripa, came out as bisexual in an interview with a local paper during her reelection campaign in 2012. She won then, and again in 2014 and 2016, with at least 80% of the vote each time. Before running for office, she worked as a community-outreach coordinator for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and as an organizer for Fair Wisconsin. Throughout her political career, JoCasta has advocated for undocumented Wisconsinites, including efforts to make it easier for undocumented workers to get driver’s licenses.
Photo: Matthew Brookes/Vogue2/10Nicola Adams
Nicola is the first woman to win an Olympic boxing title, the first out LGBT person to win an Olympic boxing gold medal, and Great Britain’s most successful female boxer ever. She also happens to be bisexual. At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Nicola won Great Britain's first gold medal in women's boxing. In 2016, she became the first female boxer to successfully defend an Olympic title. She is the reigning Olympic, world, Commonwealth Games, and European Games champion in the flyweight division, and she is the only female boxer to ever secure each of these titles. In addition to a successful athletic career, Nicola works to promote healthy living through Fight for Peace, an organization that brings boxing and martial arts to communities affected by crime and violence. And in 2013, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, which is just astoundingly cool.
Photo: Marilyn Humphries3/10Robyn Ochs
Robyn Ochs is an award-winning advocate, educator, and speaker based in Massachusetts whose impact reaches across the country. Her definition of bisexuality, known as the “Ochs standard,” is among the most commonly cited today. She cofounded the Boston Bisexual Women’s Network and Harvard University’s LGBT Faculty and Staff Group; is a longtime member of the board of directors for MassEquality; serves as the editor of Bi Women Quarterly; and is a a coeditor of Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World and Recognize: The Voices of Bisexual Men. Robyn has spent a lot of her time making education and information about being bisexual available across a ton of platforms — specifically for students.
Photo: Getty Images4/10Kyrsten Sinema
Kyrsten Sinema became the first out bisexual member of Congress in 2013 when she sworn in to represent Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives. She began her career as a social worker and then earned a law degree and was elected to the Arizona legislature in 2004. She has also been a vocal supporter of gender equality, marriage equality, and the DREAM Act.
Courtesy of The Office of Governor Brown5/10Kate Brown
Oregon Governor Kate Brown became America’s first out bisexual sitting governor in 2015 and the first out LGBT person elected to that position in 2016; she has more than two decades of serving the state legislature under her belt. She has stood firmly for a platform that prioritizes equality and acceptance and has spoken out in support of welcoming Syrian refugees, raising the minimum wage, increasing education funding, nondiscrimination laws, and more.
Photo: Getty Images6/10Lady Gaga
The mega pop star has been out about being bisexual for most of her career, despite a ton of frustrating attempts to invalidate it. She’s also been a highly vocal advocate for LGBTQ rights. She addressed the National Equality March in Washington, D.C., in 2009, when she called attention to the LGBTQ community’s needs. A few years later, she founded the Born This Way Foundation to empower young people to create a “kinder and braver world.” Her Super Bowl halftime show also managed to use the word transgender for likely the first time in history of the Super Bowl halftime show.
Courtesy of Andrea Jenkins7/10Andrea Jenkins
Andrea Jenkins is a poet, playwright, writer, artist, and the first person to serve as the oral historian for the Transgender Oral History Project for the Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies at the University of Minnesota Libraries. In this role, Andrea collects the oral histories of the trans and gender-nonconforming community in the Upper Midwest on an unprecedented scale. She’s also currently running to represent Minneapolis’s 8th Ward on the City Council, where she previously served as a longtime policy aide.
Photo: Getty Images8/10Alicia Garza
Alicia Garza, alongside Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, is one of the cofounders of Black Lives Matter, one of the most influential social movements of our time. She also coined the phrase. Alicia is a prolific writer and dedicated advocate for racial justice. She has also spoken out against the violent mistreatment of the trans community — a major problem — and the discriminatory exclusion she’s felt in LGBTQ spaces for being bisexual and black.
Photo: Efrain John Gonzalez9/10Brenda Howard
Often remember as the “Mother of Pride,” Brenda organized the first Christopher Street Liberation Day March– the first Pride parade in the world. In 1987, she founded the New York Area Bisexual Network, which connects bisexual advocates from New York City as well as the states of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and is still active today. In honor of her memory, PFLAG Queens presents the Brenda Howard Memorial Award each year to a “positive and visible role model for the bisexual community.”
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