Happy belated Bisexuality Awareness Week!!!
Bisexuality Awareness Week is annually celebrated between 16th September to 23rd September. It’s considered to be an extension to Bisexuality Awareness Day which falls on 23rd September. Bisexuality is often overlooked because it’s a tough pill for many to swallow. Most people believe that bisexual people are just- confused. They think It’s just the phase before you realise you’re gay (or, whatever). Why is it so hard to digest that some people are attracted to more than one gender? (Wait until you hear about pansexuality or asexuality oop :p)
Maybe it would be easier to understand fluid sexualities if you dissociate a person’s sexuality from their romantic partner. Just because someone is dating a person of the same sex, it does not make them gay specifically. This kind of representation in media about bisexuality is exactly what we live for!
Nick Nelson – HEARTSTOPPER
Starting off with the inspiration for this piece’s title! Just so everyone is extra, extra sure- “He’s Bi, actually.” Of course, it sounds a bit satirical in nature, but a lot of people seemed to just assume Nick was gay because Charlie was his partner! It isn’t a justification for being “half-gay” or something; like a lot of small-minded people think- they’re just confirming their identities because they’re bi. Not half-gay, not full-gay. Just Bi.
Rosa Diaz – Brooklyn Nine-Nine
I always thought maybe I was a little crazy to think Rosa was queer since the beginning of the show, but then, she proved me right! Rosa Diaz is an extremely private person. Even her closest friends wouldn’t know where she lived until the third season! The entirety of Rosa’s queer storyline is one of my favourite things about this show!
Rosa knew she was bi “Since seventh grade, I was watching ‘Save by the Bell’ and thought Zack Morris was hot, Lisa Turtle… also hot.”
But even after years of knowing she was bi, she’d have to come out her whole life. Her journey was more about discovering her platonic relationships than her romantic ones. The way the squad supports her during the tough time of her family not accepting her; warms my heart!
Eleanor Shellstrop – The Good Place
Eleanor’s sexuality was never explicitly discussed on the show, but the closest source we have to her is the woman who played her! Eleanor is an inherently flirtatious character who seems to flirt her way through her life! Uhm- sorry, her death lol. The reason why I wanted to include this character in this list is because there are other labels that could fit her according to OTHER people. But labels are supposed to be placed by the person themselves, and if Eleanor (well, Kristen Bell) says she’s bi, she’s bi. End of conversation.
Adam Groff & Lily Iglehart – Sex Education
Adam Groff from Sex Education is everyone’s favourite anti-hero(along with Ruby Matthews :D)! He’s entrapped in his father’s expectations of what he is supposed to be as a man. He would get jealous of his fellow classmate, Eric Effiong- a gay kid who is not afraid of showing his love for his interests that were conventionally feminine things like makeup. He would bully Eric in the beginning, but upon a sudden turn of events, Adam realised that the reason why he was so jealous of Eric, was because he was into him!
Lily Iglehart is an artsy sci-fi geek who in the beginning would be writing a graphic novel based on her huge crush on Adam Groff. Her art was very concentrated on being into men. Lily is a bi character who was actually confused about her sexuality, thanks to her queer awakening, Ola Nyman. However, Tanya Reynolds (Iglehart), and Patricia Allison (Nyman) announced their departure from the show by the end of season 03.
“Those storylines felt like they had just come to a really lovely ending in series three, and I felt like the characters of Lily and Ola just really felt like they ended in a really happy place.[sic]”
Showrunner Laurie Nunn told LADbible.
Alex Gabriel Claremont-Diaz – Red, White & Royal Blue
‘Alex Gabriel Claremont-Diaz’ is a mouthful, according to his lover, Prince Henry George Edward James Hanover-Stuart Fox (Henry George Edward James Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor according to the book) who is ‘as gay as a maypole’. Alex is confident about his sexuality, something I love about this film adaptation is that the characters had a pining period, but not the stereotypical ‘Am I Gay?’ kind of pining period. The film adaptation of Red, White & Royal Blue gives you all the Hallmark Christmas movie feels! We rarely get to see light-hearted films with queer connotations and we are all for it!
PS. The reason Prince Henry’s name was changed in the film adaptation is:
“Before we even started to get into rehearsals, Nick[Nicholas Galitzine] and I were talking and I decided I didn’t want the audience to think about the actual British Royals. If people are watching this film and they’re thinking about the Windsors, then it would have taken them out of the film, and it would have broken the fairytale.”
Director Matthew Lopez told Hello!
^There’s apparently a total 3hr film worth of footage for this 1.5-hour film and we want the full version!!!!
Mabel Mora – Only Murders in the Building
^I ablsolutely love how Charles and Oliver are bickering in this photo XD
Mabel Mora is another artsy character with a sharp interest in; you guessed it, MURDER! This heavily underrated show follows Mabel and her two besties Charles Haden-Savage(a renowned actor), and Oliver Putnam(an infamous playwright) as they solve the grappling murders that take place in the building they live in. They record a podcast, releasing the episodes whilst they’re solving the cases, giving their listeners ALL the twists and turns. The only rule to this podcast- they are to cover Only Murders in the Building!
Mabel’s sexuality in this show is a casual remark. It’s portrayed as something that’s natural to her character. There was no big coming-out scene.
Rather, it was a very short “Don’t you know it’s very hip to be bisexual these days, Charles?”
Oliver Putnum (OMITB)
I personally love that Mabel’s sexuality was not a big deal, and I hope to see our world transform into that someday! :)
Bi representation in mainstream media has definitely improved over the years, and as much as we love to see it; it would be amazing if maybe some of that open-mindedness got sprinkled into real life! I hope this compilation was as fun to go through as it was to make it! Who are your favourite bi characters? What stereotypes would you like to see broken?
A happy belated Bi Awareness Week, again to everyone!