ABSTRACT
An increasing number of young people identify as neither gay nor heterosexual. Yet we bifurcate our history and continue to talk in terms of an imaginary either/or world that does not exist. The US bisexual rights and liberation movement emerged in the mid-1980s. What have people who form loving relationships with more than one gender been doing with their lives? How have they made their mark in history? How can we learn to see their realities without subsuming everything about their lives under false categories that do not accurately represent them? This chapter outlines the history of organizing among bisexuals and the set of cultural beliefs and practices about them, asking provocative questions and pointing out ways the “gay” historian misses significant data and trends with a bifurcated lens.
