Marriage Equality: Putting the B in LGBT
PREFFERRED: Same-sex couples or lesbian, gay, bisexualand transgender couples
PROBLEMATIC: Lesbian and gay couples
PREFFERRED: Same-sex marriage
PROBLEMATIC: Gay marriage
PREFFERRED: Marriage protects LGBT families
PROBLEMATIC: Marriage protects gay and lesbian families
PREFFERRED: Equal marriage rights
Marriage equality
Freedom to marry
Right to marry
Equal access to marriage
Fighting marriage discrimination
Opposed to marriage discrimination
Marriage discrimination affects lesbian, gay, biand transgender people
INCLUSIVE: Use an example of a bisexual same-sex couple or a bi/gay couple or specific examples from lives of Bi Spokespeople on Marriage Equality-list available by request
Marriage Equality and the Bi Community
Many bisexual people have married a same-sex partner, or want to but are prevented by the laws of their state. Right now, many people who want to legally marry a same-sex partner are being discriminated against, including bisexuals. A relationship between two people of the same sex cannot be assumed to be a “gay couple” or a “lesbian couple.” Some same sex couples consist of a bi woman and a lesbian, a bi man and a gay man, two bi women or two bi men. Please use terms like “same-sex couples” or “LGBT families.” Don’t “gaywash” someone who identifies as bi or bisexual by describing them as part of a “gay” or “lesbian” couple. Refrain from using the term “lesbian couple” or “gay couple,” unless you are describing a couple who have both identified themselves as lesbian or gay.
A bi person doesn’t become gay or lesbian when they commit to a same-sex relationship. A bisexual person has the capacity to be attracted to people of more than one gender. But they do not magically become either “straight” or “gay” based on the gender of their partner.Additionally, a bisexually oriented transgender or intersex person, who doesn’t identify as solely male or female, could be in a relationship with a person of any gender. There are also bi women and men who are partnered with someone who is genderqueer or intersex and whose gender is undefined.
Bisexual immigrants, who have found same-sex love post-divorce, have been investigated for marriage fraud under threat of their green card being revoked and deportation. Since the new relationship is same-sex, Immigration assumes they are gay and assumes that the marriage that helped them get a green card was a fraudulent “green card marriage,” rather than a real marriage that just didn’t last a lifetime, like many other marriages in the US. There are also bi-national same-sex couples where one or both partners are bisexual and cannot sponsor their partner for a visa (unlike heterosexual or opposite-sex couples) and, as a result, are forced to break up because they can’t live in the same country.
Bi Writers Association