Sara

Transcription: 

One thing I wish people were more aware of was how patterns of discrimination and marginalization occur even within marginalized communities. I’m speaking specifically about my own experiences as a bisexual women in the LGBTQ community. Despite being seen as a larger group that includes so many different identities, there is still a tendency to center on only the needs and voices of gay men and lesbians. What I feel is even worse is that there are also loud majority voices who perpetuate biphobia and transphobia in our community by spreading negative stereotypes and trying to exclude us from queer spaces. One of the hardest experiences I had coming out was not coming out to a straight person but a lesbian woman. I disclosed my identity to this person expecting that they would be the one that would understand me the most out of everyone. Instead, I was met with a lot of biphobic rhetoric about my identity being a phase and implying that I was just straight. 

When we create hierarchies and perpetuate stereotypes within our own communities, we help uphold systems of discrimination that keep us marginalized. I know sometimes it can be challenging in communities as diverse as ours to incorporate so many voices and values, but this does not negate the fact that we should be there for each other. We often think of being an ally as something you only do from the outside, but really even those of us who have minority identities need to be advocating for each other. If you aren’t there for your siblings, then who will be?