Bi Visibility Day takes place on Friday 23 September 2022 and is part of bisexual awareness week, which takes place from 19 to 25 September.
Celebrated worldwide and also known as Bisexual Pride, this day aims to highlight biphobia, challenge bisexual and biromantic erasure and raise awareness of the bisexual community.
An important date in the LGBT calendar, Bi Visibility Day was first observed and celebrated at the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) conference in Johannesburg in South Africa in 1999.
Kaushika Patel, Interim Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor Equality, Diversity and Inclusion said: “Bi equality is extremely important and DMU fully supports bisexual staff and students. Services at DMU are LGBTQ+ inclusive and we provide a safe environment to work and study and to allow people to be themselves.
“We strive to continue working towards achieving equality for our bi community.”
Bethan Rogoyski, Chair of the DMU LGBTQ+ and Allies Network Group said: “Bi Visibility Day and Awareness Week are important dates in the LGBTQ+ calendar for the community and allies to take time to consider how to best combat biphobia and raise awareness of the particular struggles that the bi community faces. We must continue to reflect on and highlight the need for equality both in and beyond the LGBTQ+ community. Today is an important day to commit to amplify and celebrate bi voices at DMU, and make space for the identities we are celebrating.”
Bisexuality: Representation, Validation and the Lived Experience
To highlight bi equality, we recently held an event for #DMUpride 2022, hosted by Jane Hearst (a bisexual PhD student at DMU), where an intersectional panel – Dr Connor Winterton (an academic with an interest in queer film analysis), Alex Millington (DMU PhD student in Performing Arts with a focus on theatrical intimacy on the contemporary British stage), Rosie Nelson (a lecturer in Gender) and Peach (DMU alumni and co-founder of Octagon Hotpot in York)- celebrated Bisexuality: Representation, Validation, and the Lived Experience.
The panel discussion celebrated the experience and expression of bisexuality and moved beyond limiting notions of 'part heterosexual, part homosexual' as the normative conceptualisation of bisexuality; the event sought to understand how bisexuals understand their sense of self and how to better represent this in popular culture.
Watch back DMU Pride 2022 events
If you have missed any of the DMU Pride 2022 events, you can watch them on the DMU Events YouTube channel.
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How to report homophobia, biphobia, intersexism and transphobia and support available
DMU is proud of its LGBTQ+ staff and student community and is committed to providing a working and learning environment where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.
DMU’s No Space for Hate campaign emphasises our commitment to challenge inappropriate behaviours and provide practical support to students who are victims, survivors or witnesses of hate or harassment. This comprises of a policy, website, anonymous reporting tool, a specialised service which outlines support and reporting options, specialist staff within Security and new mandatory training for staff involved in the disciplinary process.
Posted on Thursday 22 September 2022