Bisexual Queer Alliance Chicago Forms

Visibility was the word Oct. 16 as a group of people from around Chicago and the suburbs met at the Center on Halsted to form Bisexual Queer Alliance Chicago, the area's first group in years to formally address the lack of visibility and awareness of the "B" in the LGBT community.

"There's all kinds of bi history," said Brother Michael, who issued the call to form the group. "Bisexuals are visible in New York, Fort Wayne, Ind., in San Francisco, but not in Chicago. ...As long as I'm breathing it will not happen again. I thought let me start something."

Most in the group said it was time to make the rest of the LGBT community, as well as the general population, understand that people's sexuality includes all points across the spectrum.

"I came out in the gay community and told people I was bisexual and they were like, 'Sure, you're bisexual. ...You're a gay man,'" said Ed Negron. "I got tired of having to explain myself to people."

Michael asked Negron, who was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 2006, to help him get the bi group going, and Negron jumped at the chance.

"If you're not visible yourself they're not going to see you," Negron said. "We have to be visible."

Negron and others talked about the difficulty some people have in accepting sexual identities other than gay or straight, even people who aren't straight. Negron talked of losing a friend when he told him he was bisexual, rather than gay.

Another person said she identified as queer before she formed a longterm relationship with a man. Friends, she said, couldn't accept that she could live with and love a person of the opposite sex but still identify as queer.

"Everyone in my life who knew I used the word queer thought I was suddenly straight," she said.

Despite the common use of the "B" in references to Chicago's LGBT community, bisexuals haven't been formally represented by an organization in years, but that wasn't always the case, said one longtime activist.

"I marched in the 1987 (LGBT) March on Washington, in the very first bisexual contingent. I came back here and formed the Bisexual Political Action Coalition and worked with Queer Nation," said Paige Listerud.

Attendees stressed the importance of engaging the larger community by working with other LGBT community members, being visible in the community and at events and, when necessary, confronting negative treatment of bisexuals.

"I want the 'B' to be there," Michael said. "Being gay is fabulous. Being bi is also fabulous. And being trans is also fabulous."

The group discussed various possibilities for naming the new organization. Some expressed a desire to use something other than bisexual, feeling it's a somewhat restrictive term. In the end, though, it was thought important to include it. Queer was also chosen to more accurately convey some members' identities and as a term more prevalent among younger people.

Several members also agreed to apply for membership on the Chicago Commission on Human Relations' Advisory Council on LGBT Issues to help raise both the bisexual community's visibility and take a more active role in the larger LGBT community.

"We've been invisible in Chicago for a long time. We have to take ownership of that," Negron said. "The LGBT community kept a place for us. The 'B' has been there. They've held a seat for us."

Members agreed to work toward establishing a web presence and to hold the next meeting Nov. 6 at a member's home in Rogers Park. For more information about that meeting and the group in general email [email protected].