George said: ‘The assumptions about Bisexual people are also gendered. What are the assumptions about being Bisexual? We face a number of negative stereotypes, the primary ones being that we’re greedy, manipulative, incapable of monogamy and unable to make our minds up – the last of which is the same as saying who we are isn’t real. Our experiences are commonly assumed to be the same as lesbian and gay experiences, and our identities are frequently made invisible or dismissed as something that doesn’t exist, by people both inside and outside of this community. George Alabaster from LGBTQ charity Stonewall says: ‘Bi people are often a forgotten part of the LGBTQ community. It’s taken me a while to realise that I’m not half gay or half straight, and that being fully Bi (or Pansexual) is a legit identity for me. I also get my friends and family asking if I only fancy women now, which would completely erase the straight side of my sexuality. She even had so called ‘friends’ trying to convince her that I would eventually leave her for a man because I wasn’t a proper lesbian. I didn’t feel ‘gay enough’, and even my girlfriend referred to me as a ‘straight girl’ for a long time into our relationship. After exclusively dating guys until the age of 28, I’m now in a long term relationship with a woman (nearly 2 years now!) but I never really had the big coming out moment.
