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News & Updates
Lani Honored
Lani Ka'ahumanu received a "Lifetime Friend and
Champion Award" from San Francisco's Harvey
Milk LGBT Democratic Club. Present were a a "who's who"
of noted bisexuals - politicians, authors, historical figures,
reporters. Everyone from Maggi Rubenstein to Rebecca Kaplan (pictures
courtesy of Liz Highleyman)
First Person
History
Cliff Arnesen accounts his life,
including his historical Congressional testimony on behalf of GLBT
soldiers. for more his efforts, see the New
England GLBT Vets website.
Big Bi Book
Weekend
The Big Bi Book Weekend is a fabulous
weekend of bisexual literary (and other!) fun is being held in NYC in
conjunction with the 19th
Annual Lambda Literary Awards (aka the 'Lammies') on Thursday
May 31st 2007 and continuing on with other events into the 1st
weekend in June as a super kick-off to LGBT
Pride Month 2007. See NYABN
for details
Bi Health
Timeline
BiNet USA now hosts the official Bisexual Health
Timeline. The timeline is part of the Bisexual
Health Report, a a joint effort of The
Task Force, BiNet USA, and Fenway
Health
Make your Pride event truly a GLBT event!
It's planning time for Pride events across this great
country. Make sure your list of events is truly inclusive!! To
help you in this endeavor, BiNet USA is compiling a list of out,
proud bi entertainers. Contact one today!! If you have
recommendations for additional bi/queer/pansexual talent, contact wendy.
more news
Updated Friday February 9, 2007, 8:24
a.m. ET
BiNet USA partners with Camping.OUT
BiNet USA is excited to announce it's
partnership with Camping.OUT,
the Triangle Foundation's GLBT youth
summer camp program. 2007 marks the first year this popular program goes
national, which makes it a perfect time for BiNet USA to get involved.
Camping.OUT is a summer camp for gay,
lesbian, bisexual, transgender and allied youth, ages 13-17 from around
the USA. The second annual camp is being held August 14-19, 2007 in
Northern Michigan. It is designed to provide a safe space for GLBTA
youth where they can create a community in which they can be themselves
and develop their community leadership skills. Activities are offered by
camp staff – who complete an intensive training prior to the start of
camp – as well as GLBT community leaders from around the U.S. These
activities range from the usual camp activities – kayaking, biking,
swimming, hiking, arts and crafts, drama, etc. – to community
leadership development activities – group discussions on political
issues, leadership development sessions, media training, teambuilding
exercises, etc. Campers individually pick which activities they
participate in during the two program sessions that take place each day.
They also have free time to develop their own discussions and talk with
one another, camp staff and outside presenters.
BiNet USA will be supplying presenters,
performing youth outreach, and assisting with scholarship fund raising
efforts.
Updated Tuesday February 6, 2007, 6:48 a.m. ET
BiNet USA partners with First Freedom First
BiNet USA has partnered with First
Freedom First to promote their "Respect all Families"
campaign. First Freedom First fights to safeguard the
separation of church and state. With the Respect all Families
campaign, they counter the efforts to define proper families as headed
solely by one man and one woman.
"This was an obvious
collaboration", says Wendy Curry, president of BiNet USA.
"BiNet is a microcosm of our country. Our members have
families headed of multi-gender marriages, same gender marriages, single
parent households, polyamourous partnerships, families of choice, and
many many other combinations. Each adds to the richness of our
community. Each should be valued and respected."
Updated Monday January 22, 2007, 7:47 a.m. ET
Curried Spam is
here!
BiNet USA president Wendy Curry shares her thoughts on a variety of
topics in her new column, Curried
Spam.
Updated Monday January 15, 2007, 5:49 a.m. ET
Utah is ahead of the
rest of the country!!!!
Utah
Pride Center Announces January as Bisexual Pride Month
Why Bisexual Awareness Month? Why not? Bisexual awareness
month gives us a chance, as a community, to open up a dialogue about that
scary, invisible sexuality.
Bisexuality isnīt something thatīs easily defined. Websterīs will
tell you one thing, wikipedia will tell you something completely
different, and every bisexual out there had their own definition of who
and what they are. But what it really boils down to is that thereīs
an entire part of our own Queer/GLBT population that is all too often
overlooked.
It sounds silly to say, "Bisexuals are people too.? But, stop and
think for a second. How often have you said or heard the following:
"Oh, youīre just exploring. Itīs just a phase. Youīre
just experimenting.? Some people are truly just exploring or going
through a phase or just experimenting. But, for countless others out
there, itīs an identity to be embraced.
Updated Friday December 8, 2006, 3:19 p.m. ET
The 3rd National
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Health Summit
will convene in Philadelphia from Wednesday, March 14th through
Sunday, March 18th. This summit will bring together over five hundred
health care professionals, academics, activists, community members, and
their allies to share cutting-edge information and develop strategies to
better serve the health and wellness of the nation’s LGBTI communities
Updated Thursday December 7, 2006, 9:19 a.m. ET
BiNet USA joins myspace!
At the request of some members, BiNet has agreed to create a group on
myspace.com. The new BiNet
USA group provides another mechanism for people to discuss issues
surrounding bisexuality. There are forums about everything from
coming out to Jim McGreevey. Come! join the discussion at http://groups.myspace.com/BiNetUSA
Updated Wednesday December 6, 2006, 8:24 a.m. ET
The 19th Annual Lambda Literary Awards (lammies) nominations are
now closed. The judges are busily reading and making their suggestions for
the first ever bisexual lammy award winner. Stay tuned!!
The awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 31, 2007, in New York
City. For ticket information, visit Lambda
literary web site.
Anxiously awaiting the winner? Read and judge for yourself!
Updated Wednesday May 24, 2006, 10:45 p.m. PT
FRITZ KLEIN
1932-2006
Dr. Fritz Klein -- renowned bi leader, creator of the
Klein Sexuality Grid, author of the seminal "The Bisexual
Option" and founder/funder of the Bisexual
Foundation, which made many conferences possible
throughout the world -- passed away Wednesday morning, May 24,
following a cardiac arrest at home, according to his life
partner, Tom Reise, in a posting
on the foundation's website, Bisexual.org,
where you can find an expanded biography and remembrances.
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According to the posting, "Fritz underwent surgery several weeks
ago for a cancer-related blockage, and in the past week seemed to be on
the upswing and his spirits were high. He had been out to the movies with
me Tuesday and his passing was unexpected, and quick with no
suffering."
Plans are being made per his wishes for a big party in San Diego to
celebrate his life. His body is being donated to science, per the posting.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to San Diego's Diversionary
Theater, a nonprofit organization near and dear to him.
More
news, click here
June 15th - 18th, 2006
Ryerson University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Click here for more info or
to register!
MORE NEWS:
- Bi Professional Group Forming
- Mexico website online
JOIN THE BINET USA
DISCUSSION EMAIL LIST! GET THE LATEST NEWS!
CLICK HERE TO SEND AN EMAIL REQUEST!
TRANSCENDING
BOUNDARIES 2006
And
Northeast Regional PFLAG Conference
DCU Center in Worcester, MA
October 27-29, 2006
For more information or to submit workshop proposals or to
volunteer, visit
http://www.transcendingboundaries.org/
STUDIES
& EVENTS
Watch this space and visit Bi
Resource Center's Conferences & Events page
MORE ATTACKS ON BI'S
BiNet and friends have once again been busy fending off a recent
rash of "bi's don't exist" attacks in the media. Must
be something in the air(waves) or ink(fumes):
- Friday, Nov. 4: Dr. Joy Browne on Discovery Health Channel
reportedly told a female caller who had been involved with men and
had fallen for a woman that she had to choose whether she was
straight or gay, that bisexuality is a crock, that the caller
should see a therapist. The 4th-highest-rated radio talk show
according to Talkers magazine also said that "saying that
'I'm bisexual' just means 'Do me!'? That, 'I don't care who does
me as long as somebody'."? To complain, write to?Browne's
website: http://www.drjoy.com/contact/index.html?
as well as Discovery Health Link at http://extweb.discovery.com/viewerrelations?as
well as call WOR.? WOR's listener feedback phone line at
212-647-4500 or link to WOR's "contact us" page: http://www.worradionet.com/Contacts.htm.
Also cc to bialogue@nyabn.org
- Early October: Famed sex therapist Dr. Ruth said in a column
there is no such thing as "Everyone is either straight or gay
? there really is no such thing as being bisexual." Imagine
being a person just coming out and reading that! "It's
unfortunate that Dr. Ruth, whose column reaches millions, would
perpetuate myths about the lives of bisexual people - in essence
rendering them invisible," Cindi Creager, national news
director for GLAAD, opined.
- A bisexual fifth-grade teacher sued his former school district
Oct. 13, claiming administrators harassed him and forced him to
quit, according to the Associated Press. Emmit Hancock, a former
teacher at Willow Oaks Elementary School in Menlo Park, Calif.,
sued the Ravenswood City School District, seeking unspecified
monetary damages, the report said. According to the filing, the
teacher, 27, told his students about his sexuality to stop them
from shouting gay slurs at each other on the playground, the
report said, adding the harassment began thereafter and that
parents complained. The district says Hancock was not forced to
resign and that he quit because his educational philosophy was at
odds with what administrators wanted.
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IN OTHER NEWS:
Lawrence Nelson, partner to the late bi activist
Brenda Howard, was given the 1st Annual Brenda Howard Memorial
Award Nov. 6 by the Queens Chapter of Parents, Families and
Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
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"Confessions of a Frustrated Bi
Housewife" is a new book in the making. Check it out at frustratedbihousewife.com
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Previous postings:
OUTRAGE CONTINUES TO MOUNT
OVER BI-MEN-DON'T-EXIST 'STUDY'
The
backlash over new, dubious research that concludes bi men don't
exist (and similar dismay to the way the New York Times reported
the study on July 5) continues to grow and is having the
salutary effect among bi people and their allies of uniting and
galvanizing them to respond. Meetings and national conference
calls have been held, letters and statements have been issued,
talk shows (good and bad) have gotten on the bandwagon, and as
you can guess, BiNet USA plus other groups are receiving floods
of calls and emails.
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THE STUDY ITSELF
As to the new report,
"It measures what it measures -- a reaction to a (visual)
stimulant," says Dr. Ron Fox, who along with others
criticizes the study's methodology and especially its leap to a
conclusion that bi men don't exist because they didn't show
arousal to visions of lesbian sex, though he notes "all
studies are good in that they add" data to our body of
knowledge and address questions of science and curiosity -- but
the data must be properly gathered, the research properly
conducted and analyzed, and drawn conclusions (if any) be valid
and not illogical; otherwise, as others have noted, it's junk
science.
In this case the study
apparently merely showed that some sighted, assumably
Westernized men are physiologically aroused by some visual (and
aural?) stimulae. Several critics have noted that many men in
the study -- of all sexual self-identities -- were not counted
because they displayed NO genital arousal. (The study apparently
doesn't draw any conclusions about this phenomenon, but if it
did, would it have said that THESE people don't exist either?)
(We're attempting to seek permission to legally link to study so
you can read for yourself.)
The study is roundly
criticized by many from start to finish for its methodology and
leap to a conclusion based on something other than the data. The
study is written by three people -- two former grad students and
their professor, who, critics report, lost his chairmanship of
the Northwestern University psychology department over a book
that claimed to analyze interviews and "studies" (not
of his own), the tome denigrating and dismissing the reality of
transsexuality. (We'll attempt to reach the researcher for more
on all this.)
Among many criticisms of
the new study is how self-identified bi men were culled: Ads
were placed in gay publications asking for bi men. However, many
bi men in Western society don't read gay publications, so
there's a good chance the men who were recruited as
self-identified bi were gay-leaning in the first place, thus
further possibly skewing the research, which also (among other
factors) doesn't seem to take into consideration Western
behavior/enculturation including internalized biphobia vs.
non-Western constructs of bisexuality; nor does it seem to take
into consideration other cultural matters plus the vastness of
bisexual awareness and arousal, let alone what is MEANT when
people say they are bi.
The small study (almost
ALL such studies are necessarily small, Fox notes) indicated a
physiological response (genital arousal) in about 22 of 33 or so
self-identified sighted bi (and apparently Westernized) men
(cultural backgrounds, age, race, income and professional
levels, educational background and other factors are not
detailed in the version reviewed here) watching 2-minute films
of lesbian sex and gay male sex. Theoretically, sighted bi men
would be erotically aroused by both as they are attracted to
males and females, and in this particular study, this didn't
apparently happen for the most part (self-ID'd gay men were
aroused as would be expected by the male sex acts, self-ID'd
straight men were generally aroused by the lesbian sex).
However, the study stops short of taking into account research
(including its own) shows that shows many people of ALL stripes
are NOT aroused by porn -- been there/done that perhaps;
desensitization in our modern age (too much MTV and R-rated
films?)-- or perhaps they see sex as something other than (or
more than) just a visually stimulating act, or other factors.
This discussion will be
long and ongoing; for more, click on our links and check back
with us regularly. Meanwhile, we're in for a LOOONG year until Creating
Change in Oakland come
November...
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Previous update (revised July 7, 9, 12):
STUDY
TO BI'S:
YOU'RE DEAD
OK,
not dead, just non-existent. Per a study, as reported July 5
in the New
York Times, a team of
psychologists, measuring genital arousal in response to images
of men having sex with other men vs. women having sex with
other women, found that about 25 of 33 men who identified
themselves as bisexual were exclusively aroused by either one
sex or the other, usually other men. A number of researchers
and bi activists have criticized the study's methodology and
noted it doesn't look at the broader issues of romance,
sensuality and other aspects of bisexuality. In addition, a
number of individuals and groups, including GLAAD and NGLTF,
took exception to the inflammatory headline on the NYT report,
"Straight, Gay or Lying? Bisexuality Revisited" and
noted the lead researcher has a dubious background.Meanwhile,
NGLTF and GLAAD convened a phone conference Friday July 8 with
numerous bi activists (including BiNet USA President Denise
Penn and VP Luigi Ferrar) on coordinating responses and
actions.
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End previous posting
JOIN
RAPID-RESPONSE
SPOKESPERSON TEAM
As you can guess, the
NYTimes report and the study itself have spawned a number of
media calls to BiNet USA, so we are reinvigorating our
rapid- response network. This is a team of people located
throughout the U.S. who can quickly reply to media attacks
or inquiries (and even be proactive in trying to get
coverage of bi issues). You speak for yourself as a bi
person, not "on behalf" of BiNet nor "all
bi's," but as our name implies, we network individuals
and groups with each others to help foster the bi community
and educate the larger society. If you'd like to be such a
spokesperson/rapid-response team member, send us your name,
address (or at least city), phone number and email address
plus permission to give these out if and when journalists,
producers and others tackle bi-related stories, reports,
etc. Email
us or write to BiNet USA at
the address above.
JOIN
OUR BOARD!
BiNet
is always on the lookout for board members, regional reps,
volunteers and activists! If you're interested in serving,
submit by email or postal service your contact info, office
you're interested in and a statement of why you're
interested plus some biographical information.
NEW BI BOOKS! ?
Now
available in bookstores and online: "Getting Bi"
by longtime Boston activist Robyn Ochs via the Bisexual
Resource Center, with
assistance from co-editor Sarah Rowley and literally a world
of contributors; and "Bi America" by longtime
Minnesota activist William E. Burleson.
The
Mission of BiNet USA:
As
an umbrella organization and voice for
bisexual people, BiNet USA will facilitate
the development of a cohesive network of
bisexual communities, promote bisexual
visibility, and collect and distribute
educational information regarding
bisexuality. To accomplish these goals,
BiNet USA will provide a national network
for bisexual organizations and individuals
across the United States, and encourage
participation and organizing on local and
national levels.
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BiNet
USA, a 501C3 nonprofit organization,
is
the oldest national bisexual entity in the United States. It is
a network of groups, projects and individuals, encouraging
dialogue and participation as a way of creating and maintaining
a cohesive bisexual community and empowering individuals to feel
proud of their bisexuality.
If you would like
to support BiNet USA as an organization or as an individual,
please consider making a donation
or becoming a member of BiNet USA, adding your voice to our
community and our efforts.
BiNet USA thanks the
BiCafe
for its past support of our website.
DISCLAIMER: BiNet USA and its website
pages at www.binetusa.org are intended for educational and
informational purposes only and to communicate with our
organization's members. It is not intended to be used as a
dating or personal-meeting service and therefore does not
knowingly link with any pages that are of a dating or
personal-meeting nature or are visually/sexually explicit. Use
of our listserv emails on Yahoo! Groups is intended for
educational and information-sharing purposes only and is not to
be used for meeting other people as described above nor in
violation with any U.S. federal laws or relevant local or state
laws. It is not intended to be used by persons under the age of
18 years except for informational purposes regarding legal,
cultural or social issues or for personal understanding of
relevant issues. By using this site, you acknowledge that you
are aware of these precautions and purposes and adhere to them.
COPYRIGHT: All content on www.binetusa.org is
copyrighted 1998-200 7
by BiNet USA and cannot be duplicated without BiNet USA's
written or emailed permission (except under "fair use"
commentary conditions in accordance with copyright laws and
court decisions).
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BiNet
USA
4201 Wilson Blvd. #110-311 ~ Arlington, VA
22203-1859
1-800-585-9368
BiNetUSA@BiNetUSA.org
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