The Bisexual Flag - Proudly Pulling My Panties up the Flagpole

A very interesting article with some well-made points. I personally feel having bisexual symbolism is quite important to further our identity, support, and acceptance as a community. :flag1: To wit, as a community, bisexuals are largely invisible with little support or knowledge of each other's existance. Often, one's sexuality is associated by outsiders according to the person you are with, not on YOUR feelings. If you happen to be dating a member of the opposite gender, people assume you're straight and vice versa, when one or both persons could be, in fact, bisexual. How can you tell? :confused:

Many on this board have already admitted to being unfamiliar with the BiFlag and what it symbolizes. :flag3: I've read posts for persons looking for bisexual bars to meet people at, with the end result that they are gay/lesbian bars that may be bi-friendly. Many bisexuals feel that the Rainbow Flag and GLBT community is more GL and a lot less BT, and do not identify with those communities and their symbolism. It's no small thing that many in that community feel we're just making a transition to being fully gay or lesbian. :banghead:

It's difficult enough trying to find commonality in a community that's as varied as it's members... and our numbers are small considering the number of individuals who have had bisexual encounters but do not identify as bisexual, and those who are "fully out" as bisexual, and everything in between. What can we use as some sort of common bond between such a varied group such as ourselves? What can help us to gain visibility & support in a world that considers us invisible? What can help the neophyte bisexual find a place to go when they need help in explaining that their feelings are okay, normal and give them the support they need in their newly-identified orientation? In short, bisexual symbols & pride such as the bi-angles, the biflag and the pink-purple-blue color scheme. :bipride:

We could argue the aesthetics of the biflag, etc. It's a moot point. We need to embrace its symbolism, make it a recognizable part of our society, in as much as the gay & lesbian community has embraced the rainbow flag and their symbols and have become very visible in the process. :rainbow: Only then will we start to shift from the invisible to the visible, come together as more of a community on our own standing and be more able to help others in their struggle to accept their newly-discovered sexual orientation, and also realize that sexuality, like many other facets of human life, is not strictly "gay/lesbian" or "straight" but everything in between. :flag4:

You're not the flag-waving type? That's fine! You're only "out" to yourself and/or a select few (this describes me)? That's fine, too! I'm sure you can still find discreet ways to show the bi-pride colors. :bibounce: I make jewlery as a hobby, and have made a few tasteful bracelets and a necklace and wear them when I see fit. You don't need to streak your neighborhood naked wearing pink-purple-blue body paint & a smile :flag1: (although if you do, please invite me :bigrin: ). You can be as forward or discreet with your bi-pride wear as you like, but still represent so we can build as a community and come out from behind the shadows of others. :grouphug:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by but that's my name!!

Thank you, have a gold star and a big fat kiss.
I recognise some of the symbols used but recently I bumped into the bi flag plastered all over the place, I was going to try to look it up on the internet but how do you look up something like that if you don't know what it's called?

Anyway I've always liked the rainbow flag, it's bright, bold, unmissable and I think it's pretty (I'd love to see the 8 coloured version) but this bi flag, okay fantastic we now have our own flag (yipee I think), but Eik it's ugly. My favorite colour varies between pink and purple but that thing is just horrible.

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the flag does look a little dull. maybe if the colors were brighter. or the rainbow colors upsidedown as a suggestion for a bi flag.

the colors are enchanting,love my flag bi,

How About This for a Bisexual Flag?
http://allflagwallpaper.com/images/a...2-1024x768.jpg

I relate more to this than some Magenta, Purple and Blue stripes.
And to get philosophical about those colors...why choose a color pattern that is at the end of the Rainbow spectrum of the Gay Pride Flag?

I find it defeatist if you ask me.

The colors are representative

Blue - for those that seem straight because of their relationship

Magenta - for the invisibility of Bisexuals everywhere

Pink - for those that appear gay because of their relationship

so its not about "relating to" or "colors at the end of the gay rainbow"

Its about the community, about us.

But, as is normal with communities , if you'd rather use something else, go ahead, you might not be recognized (at least at first.)

This is our movement, and everyone is invited.

I bought a rainbow flag off the internet a while ago but my ex boy friend, who himself is gay, went and stole it. I think I'll use that as sign that I should buy a bi pride flag. :flag4:

Incidentally the site I got the rainbow flag from also sells bi pride flags but they’re more expensive and with no clear indication as to why. Ruddy cheek .

Here's how I kind of see things...


http://www.thepassionplace.net/gabilewhwhwh.html

Aesthetics is subjective at best. I don't think the flag is any great triumph of beauty. I don't think it's meant to be. It is meant to be symbolic, representative. Any person familiar with flags and flag meanings will tell you that the more powerful flags are those with the simplest, (non-decorated) design.
Someone earlier in this thread talked about pride, saying they, 'are not ashamed, but proud?'. I believe that person was expressing that they did not feel proud about their sexuality. I get that. That's a little like me saying I'm proud I'm white (more like light pink actually). I'm not ashamed , or proud of either. But that is the point, I think. Why do some of us feel afraid to come out? Shame. Not all of us are afraid to come out. I'm partially there and so far have met with more success than disaster. I also feel like a weight is gone from off my shoulders, a freedom that I had not known before. Mostly, I think because I and my declared sexuality have in large part been accepted, often embraced and sometimes even opened the door to others who are doing the same. With most people I encounter, since stepping out of the closet into the light, I feel I can relax and just be me. What a huge difference this has made for me. Especially when new people enter my life and they know me as bisexual: it is no big deal either positively or negatively. It's like a non-issue but not a subject to be avoided either. Once in a while I come across someone who is less than friendly about it and if someone else doesn't make a comment in my defense, I can, with the knowledge that people important to me have absolutely no issue with my sexuality, deal with the situation in such a way that I end up feeling right and certain that my sexuality is not my problem but is that other individual's problem. Let him or her own it, I have life to live and more important things to put my energies to.
So, what is the point? I think the Bisexual Flag is important, at least during transition from fear and shame to freedom and acceptance. I don't mean an individual's progress through self-acceptance to being out, I mean until invisibility, ignorance, intollerance and hatred is all but extinguished, we need a symbol that validates us (to the ignorant, not to ourselves) and helps to build community and identity. There will always be those that feel alone in regards to their sexuality; I was one of those for a long time. While there was something in my upbringing/experience/makeup that allowed me to feel strong enough to accept my sexuality long before I even knew there were other bisexuals (how naive I felt when revelations about people's sexuality became a part of my life experience and finally when I discovered this site). Reflecting on the period I was alone, I did not feel I was missing anything. Now that I'm not alone and have access to the shared experience of others, I understand more about myself and all the conclusions I arrived at about my sexuality and it validates most of that hard work I did to get there. Imagine what that might feel like for someone who today has not found that common ground. One of the revelations I experienced since coming here and only recently is the notion of fluidity. I called notion cycling, hence the nick. I was sure I was the only one who cycled through feelings about women and men. I am ok with not being typical, even though I am discovering more and more that I am typical. My uncertainty with the "normality" of my shifting desires was exacerbated by the comments from gay poeple I call friends. They were telling me there is no such thing as bisexuality. I remained certain there is but had no one else in my world to confirm that. I was not upset to be the only one, I was just very sure I must not be the only one. I began to think there might be something wrong with the fact that I could not (or wasn't) 'settling' on attraction to either men, women or both but had shifting desires instead. I love being bisexual and always have. I hated how that sexuality cycled. After doing much of the hard work by myself to find an understanding of the fluid nature of my sexuality and separating fluidity from bi-gender attraction, I started to seek collective knowledge and wisdom about the topic. It is here that I have come to understand that fluidity is very common. I put a lot of hard work and energies towards that understanding. I feel that if I had encountered others and became more aware earlier, that those resources might have been available for me to work on other mysteries of this thing we call life. (Although the very exercise might in and of itself reap a bigger reward than if I was spoon fed the same). I can not help but to think about those people that are sitting alone at home wondering. Some feeling they are 'bad, wrong, evil, broken etc.'. Some knowing they are not those things, but feeling isolated none-the-less. Providing a symbol helps those people to see the otherwise invisible. It helps to bring people together under a common cause. It helps people to feel a sense of belonging. For that, I display the flag and believe in it's merit.
To the poster that put up the flag of the United States as the symbol for bisexuality, all I can say is ugh. Not as a symbol for a country. For that, I think it's great.:flag2::rainbow: