Bisexual Pride Flag (Photo : Bisexualweek.com)
It is Bisexual Awareness Week which culminates with Celebrate Bisexuality Day today, Sept. 23.
According to MTV, joining the celebrations gives people a chance to dash all myths related to bisexuality such as women only using it to seek attention or brainwashed by a patriarchal society, and men who are confused gays not ready to come out to society.
Because of the stigma that comes with being a bi - often treated as being selfish or "inherently non-monogamous" for inability to choose what gender to love - bisexual men and woman have a higher rate of depression, anxiety and attempts to harm themselves or commit suicide. They are also more prone to suffer from domestic or sexual violence.
Sexual preference is still a private thing, but some celebrities have chosen to be out in the open being bisexuals. MTV has listed some of the bi celebrities in the U.S.
- Evan Rachel Wood - Came out in 2011 in an Esquire interview. Recently tweeted that it's OK to be a bisexual and not cave in the shame.
- Lady Gaga - Came out in 2009 to Barbara Walters, confirmed bisexuality in song "Poker." Even her character in the upcoming "American Horror Story: Hotel" is a bi.
- Andy Mientus - Plays Pied Pieper, an openly gay villain, in "The Flash," and engaged to another male Broadway star in real life. Says he does not want his former girlfriends to think he just used them.
- Anna Paquin - Came out during a PSA for equality in 2010, was in heteronormative relationship with Stephen Moyer, her co-star in "True Blood."
- Miley Cyrus - Prefers to use the term pansexual. Says she became one at age 22.
Other bi celebrities on MTV's list include Amber Rose, Billy Joe Armstrong, Megan Fox, Alan Cumming, Azaelia Banks and Cara Delevingne.
Celebrate Bisexual Day (CBD) started in 1999 on the initiative of three advocates, Wendy Curry, Michael Page and Gigi Raven Wilbur to battle bisexual invisibility. In 2013, the first bisexual community issues roundtable on CBD was held at the White House.
