Canadian LGBT Health Organization Sponsors Bisexual Anti-Stigma Campaign

The Rainbow Health Ontario website is designed to help LGBT people and health care providers understand LGBT health issues. Though this organization is based in Canada, they deal with universal LGBT health concerns. Because LGBT face heightened stigma in societies around the world, they often do not receive adequate and appropriate healthcare. LGBT people often withhold information about their sexual orientation or gender identity from their doctors for fear of discrimination or prejudices, and some LGBT health care providers may not be educated about specific LGBT health issues or be sensitive to LGBT people’s unique needs.

RHO's newest resource for the LGBT community and healthcare providers is a campaign that focuses on the stigma against bisexual people within (and outside of) the LGBT community itself. Those who are particularly disregarded are bisexual mothers, transgender bisexuals, bisexuals of color, and bisexual youth. The resource titled, “This is Our Community…because I fight for all of our rights” contains four posters of these marginalized bisexual groups and a short paragraph about the challenges they face.

Some common myths of bisexual people are: Bisexuals are confused about their sexuality (implying they can only be gay, lesbian or straight), all bisexuals are gender-conforming (rather than transgender), and that bisexuals cannot be monogamous (suggesting bisexuals are unfaithful and cannot commit to one person).

The final paragraph sums up RHO’s campaign goal for their new bisexuality anti-stigma campaign. “We are proud to be bisexual and proud to be part of the LGBTQ community. Let’s work together to challenge biphobic myths and stereotypes, increase bisexual visibility, and celebrate the contributions that bisexuals make to our communities.”

For more information about bisexuality, take a look www.binetusa.org, check out The American Institute of Bisexuality for bisexuality resources, academic studies, and online magazine.