Celebrate Bisexuality Day

Since 1999, this day has been observed around the world on Sept. 23 to recognize and celebrate bisexual people, the bisexual community, and the history of bisexuality. This year Lafayette students, faculty, and staff are invited to visit the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center in Farinon today from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. to learn more about bisexuality, pick up some fun giveaways, and enter to win exciting prizes.

According to the Williams Institute, about 50 percent of people who identify as either gay, lesbian or bisexual identify as bisexual. This makes the bisexual population the single largest group within the wider LGBTQIA+ community.

In simplest terms, a bisexual person is someone who can be attracted to more than one gender; but adults and youth who identify as bisexual sometimes describe themselves differently. Many bisexual adults have embraced the definition proposed by longtime bisexual leader, national speaker, and award-winning activist Robyn Ochs: “I call myself bisexual because I acknowledge that I have in myself the potential to be attracted—romantically and/or sexually—to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree.”

This broad definition of bisexuality includes people who identify as pansexual, queer, fluid and other labels that suggest potential attraction to more than one gender.