Rock legend David Bowie, “Brooklyn 99” star Stephanie Beatriz and iconic actor and singer Demi Lovato.

What do these seemingly unrelated people have in common? They are all part of the Bi+ community, which celebrates Bi+ Awareness Week this week starting on Sept. 16 and ending with Bisexual Pride Day on Sept. 23.

Bi+ Awareness Week, otherwise known as BiWeek, was first created in a collaboration between GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defimation) and BiNetUSA, a non-profit, conservative bisexual group that promotes bisexual awareness and visibility, in 2014.

The week was created with the goal of spreading awareness of bisexuality and the extended Bi+ community, which includes a broad range of multi-sexual identities including — but not limited to — pansexual and polysexual. Essentially, any person that is attracted to more than one gender is included in the Bi+ community.

“Growing up I always heard people coming out as straight or as gay, and there wasn’t too much leeway between the two,” Grayson Baca, a Eugene local that identifies as pansexual, said. “On occasion I would hear people think of bi or pan as selfish or just not a thing that is not true. Especially pansexually.”

While labels are fluid and mean different things to each individual, the basic difference between bisexuality and pansexuality has to do with gender relevance. In bisexuality, one is attracted to more than one gender. In pansexuality, one is attracted to all genders, and/or gender is not relevant in terms of sexual or romantic attraction.

Regardless of where a person’s label falls on the multi-sexual/romantic spectrum, there is a common struggle against erasure and bi-phobia that is present in straight and queer communities.

To give you a better idea of how horrifyingly common bi-erasure is, think of the last time you saw a heterosexual couple or homosexual couple and assumed they were both straight or gay respectively. Gender assumptions aside, in both of these scenarios your instinctual assumption erased the existence of bisexuality and the rest of the bi+ community in your mind. Now think about how often you have unknowingly done this, and how often those around you have unknowingly done this. This is just one example of the bi-erasure done by straight and LGBTQ+ people alike, creating incredibly harmful stigma on two fronts and leaving bi+ people feeling isolated.

You could say this day-to-day struggle of bi-erasure, among a wide array of other factors and challenges, gives the bi+ communities some issues. According to a New York Times article, despite being more than half of the LGBT+ population, some studies demonstrate that bisexual identifying people suffer more anxiety and depression than gay or lesbian identifying people — and the gay and lesbian rate for mental illness is already higher than the straight population.

It’s for this reason that bisexual people need support and resources, like UO’s Bi and Beyond club run by grad student Laura King. The group is focused on creating a supportive community for bi+ people at UO and involves sharing stories, resources and more.

The group currently plans to meet Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. on the even number weeks of fall term, with a consistent location to be determined. The first meeting will be on Oct. 6th in the LGBTQ+ office at the EMU.

In an interview, King talked about the struggles she has seen people go through while trying to decide to come in to a supportive group — and, as a bisexual, she can relate.

“When you’re figuring yourself out, you might have all these stereotypes about what being bi looks like, and it’s a million different things,” King said. “Part of coming into community is about breaking down those ‘this is how I have to be.’”

Until the day comes where the harmful stigmas and queerphobia subside, there will continue to be battles for every bi+ person. If anything, Bi+ Awareness Week will at least allow the people of this wonderful community to celebrate their identities and help encourage the education and empathy that will help to end the harm.
For more information on the extensive UO resources for LGBTQ+ people, go to UO Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Education and Support Services. For more resources for support and education on bisexuality, check out the Bisexual Resource Center.