FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Adrienne Williams, Founder & Web Producer
Phone: 773-273-422
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Bi Social Network Launches Yearlong Campaign on Bi-visibility, To Stop bi-phobia and bi-erasure

Chicago, IL , September 3, 2010—Bi Social Network is proud to announce our year long Bi-Visibility PSA Campaign, to promote positive role models of bisexuals in opposite and same-sex partnerships and individual lives throughout the spectrum of our demographics. Bi Social Network and our allies will expose biphobia and intolerance in the straight, gay, lesbian and other communities who see “coming out bisexual’ as a crime, a joke, not real or screaming for attention.

The bisexual community has seen, particularly in the last several years a growing use of hate language within our own communities—from online web communities, to local businesses, to public celebrities, community activist and national platforms. We have equally seen a bi-erasure effect in major LGBT publications, in film, politics and celebrities who have gone back into the bisexual closet for fear of being “needy, greedy and liars with their peers.

Goals and Phases

This campaign will exposure, uplift, enrage, empower and affect millions of bisexuals and our allies that want to stand up and be apart of a great BLGT community. We are in fact on a strong mission to make known biphobia and bi-erasure with stories, words, discussions, radio podcasts, news, interviews, images and imagination.

1. Phase 1: We will start with several phases throughout the year. The first phase will be using imagery in the form of photography.
2. Phase 2: We will move into the social media on our show Bi Talk Radio, Facebook, Twitter and mobile podcasting throughout this process.
3. Phase 3: We will move into learning about each other lives, by way of news and interviews via printed media.
4. Phase 4: We will move into the media of motion storytelling. Personal stories of bisexuals throughout the nation; locally, nationally and internationally with video.

This movement is for the famous and for the non famous. For the young and for the old; for the locally bisexual and for others who are far way. There are no limits to this campaign. Your passion to tell your story is all your need.

To learn more, please contact us if you want to participate, educate, sponsor or interview us.

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About Bi Social Network:

Bi Social Network) is the first interactive bisexual Blog and talk radio show dealing with sexuality, social events and community. We are particularly focusing on bisexual men, women, teens and social issues surrounding the myths (biphobia) of bisexuality in the gay, lesbian and straight communities. Topics will range in the area of social, entertainment (pop culture) and social events and community, regarding our sexuality in an informational, educational and enriching way.

We also will be the hub of bisexual events across the nation in the form of workshops, networking events and social entertainment.

sexuality. sociability. community. is Bi Social Network.

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Alexander Skarsgard, Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer on HBO's True Blood (Cover: Rollingstone.com)

Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer and Alexander Skarsgard show off their hot bods on the cover of Rolling Stone—as they talk about vampire life, Paquin coming out bisexual, being so normal and a fun dig at Twilight’s Robert Pattinson. Though, not to worry Twilighters, Stephen has been known to say that True Blood and Twilights success has helped both shows/movies out with the vampire fan base.

Speaking of  vampires, seems Moyer is all about trying to understand the correlation between sex and the first bit.

“If we go from a base level, vampires create a hole in the neck where there wasn’t one before. It’s a de-virginization–breaking the hymen, creating blood and then drinking the virginal blood. And there’s something sharp, the fang, which is probing and penetrating and moving into it. So that’s pretty sexy. I think that makes vampires attractive.” He laughs a little. “Plus, Robert Pattinson is just hot, right?” —Stephen Moyer

Vampire Art, Sex and Love

Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer have just announced their engagement in real life—yes, arts does follow life. As the couple have been together since their auditions.  Also, Paquin has recently oust herself in a PSA campaign regarding sexual tolerance on the Give A Damn” Camaign.

Seems Moyer isn’t worried about the bisexual attraction. As many bisexuals know that there are many opposite-sex bi couple in the community. Paquin feels being bisexual is a normal thing and wanted the world to treat it as every day news.

“I’m not sure what the reaction was, but I’m glad I did it. There’s such an impulse to turn it into a sensational thing, when what I was really hoping to say is that it’s normal and not interesting. (smiles) I feel so lucky right now. Life is pretty great. —Anna Paquin

Paquin in between two hot men, I should say “life” is freaking fang-tastic. (couldn’t resist)

Would be interesting, if Bi Social Network could get Paquin, Moyer and Skarsgard to join our Bisexual PSA campaign, which starts this month—in the hopes of showcasing famous and non famous men and women alike.  This campaign will be a year long mission, to highlight that being bisexual is no big thing and ‘normal’ and everyone that comes out as bisexual should be proud of the fact. Just like Anna Paquin and her soon to be vamp husband Stephen Moyer.

You can see the final episode of True Blood on September 19. Where the show left us with Eric, played by Alexander Skarsgard outside in sun to die.

What more vamp blood? Buy the second season of True Blood on DVD or Blu-ray at TLA Video. (We are featuring the show all month long!)

Thought, I added this on the site, but it was just on the front page. Videos get it’s own section. Enjoy John Barrowman called “What About Us.” Seems like an anthem more then just gay or straight. I can also see the opposite couple in the video being bisexual. | wink | I say a Bi PSA Campaign. You think he’ll let us use it? Thoughts, write your comments on what you think about this song.

Hello! My name is Cirleen DeBlaere, and I am an assistant professor in the College of Education at Lehigh University. My research team and I are conducting a study on the life experiences and well-being of lesbian and bisexual women of color. It is our hope that with this study, we can contribute to the understanding of the experiences of individuals with multiple and intersecting minority identities. Your participation is essential to achieving this goal, so we hope that you will take part in our study.

In order to participate, you must identify as lesbian or bisexual, as a woman of color, currently live in North America, and be 18 years of age or older. If you would like to participate in my study, please click on the link below and you will be directed to the online survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LBWOC

Thank you VERY much in advance for your time! Please feel free to pass on this link to other people who might be eligible.

If you have any question about this study, please feel free to contact me at deblaere@lehigh.edu. This research has been approved by the Lehigh University Institutional Review Board (IRB# 10/211 R).

Sincerely,
Cirleen DeBlaere, Ph.D.

How many "ex-gay" victims and survivors are bisexual? (Image) wikimedia.com/Fg68at/Peterson Toscano

Pretty much everyone in the BLGT community has heard of it, and most of us would like to pretend it doesn’t exist. For some it’s a joke, for others it represents a deeply painful experience they have actually lived through. It’s the “ex-gay” industry. And despite our living in one of the most democratic countries in the world, there are still plenty of people who are against equality for BLGT people; and these “ex-gay” industries are multimillion dollar businesses. Many are run by some sort of faith group, others claim to be based on science; still others are run by individual people. Very often it’s families seeking to “cure” a loved one of same-sex attractions that encourage people to go to these programs; other times it’s BLGT people who honestly think that there is something horribly wrong with them that they need to fix. The techniques of the “therapy” seem to mostly center on “praying the gay away” and doing “gender specific activities”, which, as we’ve seen, are very often unsuccessful.

A question I’ve heard asked time and time again is: how do bisexuals figure into this whole “ex-gay” business? You almost never hear about bisexuality in regard to the “conversion” process. It’s all about being gay and going to straight. The“ex-gay” industry mostly acts like bisexuality doesn’t even exist (unfortunately not too different from the rest of society), and mostly talks about “gays and lesbians”. Every once in a while when bisexuality is brought up, it’s often used by both sides to bolster their arguments of “gay people can change” vs. “they can’t change”. I’ve also seen bisexuality mentioned one time when someone was writing about how they thought that some of the “success stories” presented by “ex-gay” organizations were actually bisexuals who just were not acting on their same-sex attractions. I had hoped this would be elaborated on, but that turned out to be the only thing mentioned about bisexuals.

How would paying attention to bisexuals change the face of the “ex-gay” industry? For starters, it would be interesting to know just how many of the people who go into these industries to seek help because they’ve been convinced that there is something wrong with them are actually bisexual. Perhaps if someone is bisexual but leans more toward same-sex attractions, they can classify themselves as gay and think they need reparative therapy. Also, if someone feels they have somehow “cured” themselves, could they just be bisexual but not acting on their same sex side (which as any closeted bisexual can tell you, is still horrible)? Are any of the examples of people that supposedly went from” gay to straight” that are touted by these organizations really bisexual?

We don’t know for sure about any of these questions, because bisexuality and bisexuals are pretty much ignored in this industry by both the straight and the gay communities. It would be very interesting if somehow a study could be done to determine some idea of the number of bisexuals that are involved in these “ex-gay” programs, how they influence the “success” rate, and how the programs affect their sexuality and sense of self. What would this mean for the BLGT community, and for the “ex-gay” industry? Most importantly, what would it mean for the bisexual community?

The Bigender Pride Flag created in 2009 by Natalie Phox.

The labels associated with the BLGT community are many and varied. Bisexual, as we know is generally accepted as the attraction to both genders but is often confused with pansexual–the attraction to people regardless of gender.  The subtle difference being that a bisexual person must be attracted to men and women, whereas the pansexual can be attracted to men, women, transgendered persons and anyone who doesn’t identify as being either male or female or part of the gender-binary system. Add to this the plethora of other labels, such as intersexed, genderqueer, heteroflexible et. al. and it becomes a bit more clear why it is so hard for a bisexual, homosexual—and yes transgendered person too—to discover what fits them, and why; and perhaps most importantly, to be accepted and what they are once they find it.

When doing research for a recent article, I came across a new term that immediately prompted the need for more research. The term “Bigender”—previously unknown to me, but apparently around since the late 90s—denotes a tendency to move between feminine and masculine gender-typed behavior depending on context. A 1999 survey conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health reported that less then 3% of men and 8% of women identified as bigender.

What exactly is Bigender though? Beyond the basic definition above, there doesn’t seem to be much known about it. What is a bigender person? The American Psychological Association’s report Answers to Your Questions About Transgender Individuals and Gender Identity uses the term only once, saying:

“Other categories of transgender people include androgynous, bigendered, and gender queer people. Exact definitions of these terms vary from person to person, but often include a sense of blending or alternating genders. Some people who use these terms to descrive themselves see traditional concepts of gender as restrictive.”

Elsewhere on the ‘net, bigender is defined as having the job of describing the behavior of a person, particularly a person who can identify as a male in certain situations and as a female in others—this would seem to be analogous to the way that intersexuality would apply to someone who is born with physical characteristics that are not exclusively male nor female.

While not much is known about this other “bi” culture within the BLGT community, it does seem to share a common thread with bisexuality.  Both are all inclusive gender–bisexuality allowing one to be attracted to and have relationships with both men and women interchangeably–bigender allowing on to present themselves as a man or a woman interchangeably as the situation dictates.  Both share the stigma of being misunderstood as well.  Bigender is often confused with crossdressing or transvestism, rather than being understood as the fluidity of gender that it is meant to represent.  One thing is certain, however, the two terms should not be confused with each other.  It might seem that a bigender identity must go with a bisexual identity but gender identity and sexual orientation are independent. It is possible to be bigender and not bisexual, or bisexual but not bigender.  Regardless of whether bigender defines who you are or bisexual defines who you love, it would appear that being bi is seemingly more complex and more amazing than previously believed.

Please update your records for your personal use. Our site and company name is “Bi Social Network” Not “news” and, to contact me for any reason you can use our ‘contact us‘ form to reach me for questions, concerns, interviews, reviews, sponsorships and adverts. Please also note our domain name (www.bisocialnetwork.com). At this time some might be getting our redirect of the old site. But that will be removed shortly. Also, for media our name is with three words. ‘Bi Social Network’ for your write ups and information.

When you send any inquires via our ‘contact us’ form, at that time, I will send you my personal email to use for your records, if it’s regarding business. Any media outlet, business or person that wants to solicit an interview from Bi Social Network or to send us a media kit for review, needs to contact us via our ‘contact us’ form, regarding all business information and partnerships. This includes links and partial use of our content for external sites. (Please do not add our content to any site without our express permission.

The only reason anyone should be writing to our writers are to say something regarding their articles they have writing, good or bad; which we encourage. For some reason, the business site is being confused with the web content and the individual Contributors of our site. This has been an ongoing issue, so I wanted to clear up the confusion.

Also, please review our sitemap to understand the structure of the site as some places have changed or been moved.

Thank you for your continued support and feedback and I hope this helps sort how you can reach us.

Adrienne Williams
Founder and Web Producer
Bi Social Network

Photograph by Brett Lock (http://brettlock.blogspot.com)

The BLGT community has been enjoying a lot of victory and support of late. Gay, lesbian and bisexual people are portrayed positively on our televisions and in film, there are many gay, lesbian and bisexual performing artists and now the community has begun to realize some real life victories. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell has been repealed by a 234-194 vote. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) has been repealed—making the definition of marriage something that State governments determine rather than Federal. Joining this list of victories is the overturning of California’s “Prop 8” bill declaring:

“Plaintiffs have demonstrated by overwhelming evidence that Proposition 8 violates their due process and equal protection rights and that they will continue to suffer these constitutional violations until state officials cease enforcement of Proposition 8. California is able to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as it has already issued 18,000 marriage licenses to same-sex couples and has not suffered any demonstrated harm as a result [. . .] moreover, California officials have chosen not to defend Proposition 8 in these proceedings.”

With so many victories under our collective belts it can be easy to trick one ’s self into believing that the war for equality is being won. The danger in believing this is that it tempts us to forget the other battles that are being fought.

A report from the Kyrgyz Republic—released days after the Prop 8 ruling—reveals that the lives of thirty bisexual and gay men are fraught with danger and persecution. Of thirty men interviewed for this report, twelve identify as bisexual men while fifteen were age 25 or younger. The report goes on to reveal stories that many in the BLGT community are familiar with:

“It happened in December. A guy was stopped by militia. Out of nothing they start checking for documents. He didn’t have any. He’s a bit feminine, mannered – so they got it immediately. They said: “You’re gay, aren’t you? Let’s go to your parents now.” They demanded eight thousand soms.”

Labrys, an orginazation aimed at improving the quality of life for the BLGT community in the Kyrgyz Republic was founded in 2004 and currently has 1,000 members. Syinat Sultanalieva, executive director of Labrys, said in February that violations of the rights of people of non-traditional sexual orientation occur most frequently within the family, saying of her organization: “Our organization has started a ‘refuge’ project. We provide temporary accommodation to those people who have been thrown out of their homes, or who have left of their own accord because their families do not accept the choice they have made,” With bisexual and gay youth being thrown out of their homes and forced to seek refuge, it begins to become clear that the struggle for equality and acceptance is far from over.

Other battles are far more subtle and far more dangerous. Also within days of the prop 8 decision, bioethicists are accused a noted American pediatric endocrinologist and researcher of what they claim is the first attempt to prevent homosexuality and bisexuality in the womb. The pediatrician, Dr. Maria New of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Florida International University, is a longtime champion of the prenatal use of a powerful steroidal medication called dexamethasone to prevent the development of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH )— a condition which can result in girls being born with ambiguous genitalia.

Amongst the bioethicists charging Dr. New is Alice Dreger, professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine who charges:

“Her main goal has been to prevent ambiguous genitalia and all the things that come with it, including what she calls ‘behavioral masculinization’ [sic] She includes in that what she calls ‘masculinized orientation.’”

CAH has a status as a rare condition—prompting several medical societies to suggest guidelines be put in place that establish prenatal treatment for CAH as experimental. Additionally the guidelines will note that dexamethasone can cause low birth weight and birth defects. The proposed guidelines do not mention and are not concerned with sexuality or orientation.

This style of Eugenics may seem like something from science fiction—however, it is clear that the prejudices against gay, lesbian and bisexual men and women are alive and well and it appears that there is a long way to go before the war for equality is over.

Learn what you need to do, ask questions, learn what’s ahead for the next year on Bi Social Network! Are you ready to share our stories with the world?

John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness

Since 2005, the cable network Starz has been airing an increasing amount of original programming—capitalizing on HBO’s successes with The Sopranos and Six Feet Under and Showtime’s successes with Queer as Folk and The Tudors. In 2011, a partnership with the BBC brings BLGT favorite Torchwood to the states where it will join the likes of Spartacus: Blood and Sand and The Pillars of the Earth on Starz. Bi Social Network has been following the evolution of this partnership from the beginning; and continues to report on the addition of Torchwood: The New World to the Starz lineup as the cable network releases more information on the upcoming ten part miniseries.

To this point, news has, and continues to be scarce with details surfacing sporadically. It has been confirmed that John Barrowman, Eve Myles and Kai Owen will reprise the roles of Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper and Rhys Williams, respectively. If that weren’t enough to whet the rabid fan’s appetite, Starz has now released a brief synopsis of Torchwood: The New World:

“When C.I.A. agent Rex Matheson investigates a global conspiracy, he finds himself unearthing a threat which challenges the entire human race. The answers seem to lie within an old, secret British institute, known only as Torchwood. But Torchwood was destroyed, years ago, and the keys to the institute are held by its only two survivors – former Police Officer Gwen Cooper, who has long since disappeared along with her husband and child, and the mysterious Captain Jack Harkness, a man whose history seems to stretch back centuries.

With Rex under attack from all sides, in both the US and the UK, he soon discovers there are forces at work within every level of society, determined to stop Torchwood’s return. As a chain of events across the world links together the most disparate and unlikely individuals – including a surgeon, a killer, senators and CEOs – a new Torchwood team takes shape. But this time, the threat is much closer to home, as they realize that their greatest enemy is mankind itself.”

In addition to the synopsis, Starz has released character biographies for Captain Jack, Gwen Cooper (SPOILER ALERT! The released biography of Gwen Cooper includes the name of her baby) and Torchwood’s newest team member—Rex Matheson (actor yet to be announced).

“He’s 28, the golden boy. Has been, all his life. Harvard education, fast-tracker in the C.I.A., destined for success. Though he’s never taken it easy – Rex hustles, seduces and campaigns to get where he is today. He can talk his way into anything, then charm his way out, fast. He’s made a lot of enemies, but his friends and lovers would defend him to death.

His choice of career is significant. Someone like Rex could make a fortune in Wall Street, or Hollywood. But choosing the C.I.A. says a lot about him: that for all his swagger, he does believe in justice. And will fight for it.

Slowly but surely, we see him make friends. He’s thrown together with a bunch of people known as Torchwood, the only people who might have the answer to a global mystery. To Rex, at first, they’re a bunch of freaks. Welsh women and World War 2 Captains, what’s that about?! But as they race from one crisis to another, dodging assassins, blackmail, corruption and conspiracy, from Washington to Wales and the slums of Shanghai, Rex forges friendships in the heat of fire. He learns to trust his new colleagues. And they realize that this dangerous, dazzling, reckless man is the best friend they could ever have, in a world going to hell.

They frighten us, men like Rex. We wish we were him; we never will be.”

Filming of Torchwood: The New World is set to begin in January of 2011 with an air-date closer to the summer.