Berkeley To Institute Bisexual Pride Day

Berkeley is expected today to become the first city in the country formally to "proclaim a Bisexual Pride Day" to complement the "LGBT events that light up the calendar every June across the globe," according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

Except for Oakland's, of course, which is in September. But we digress. L.A., Boston, Chicago and some other cities celebrate that date, but Berkeley's distinction is it's formally recognized.

 

Bisexual Pride Day in Berkeley would be celebrated Sept. 23, along with bisexual pride events in Boston, Los Angeles, "and other cities," the newspaper reported.

 

But those cities do not have an "official" city-recognized holiday, noted Kris Worthington, the Berkeley city councilman who proposed the idea.

 

"Increasing bisexual visibility is a way of saying, yes, they do exist, and they deserve our support and acceptance," he told the newspaper.

 

This is a bigger deal than you may think.

 

"Bisexuals have complained for years that they're shunned by the LGBT mainstream," the newspaper reported. "They think we have 'straight privilege,' and we hide in that," Martin Rawlings-Fein, the director of the Bay Area Bisexual Network, told the newspaper.

 

"Unfortunately, even in our own community, bisexuals can be invisible," Brendan Behan, the director of San Francisco Pride, told the newspaper. "I've seen bisexuals outright dismissed because of their sexuality," he said.

 

The issue of bi-pride will be taken up at the City Council's meeting tonight.