For example, comedian Rachel Mccartney has made openly biphobic comments on a number of occasions. But even within the queer community, biphobic jokes and remarks are still frequent and mostly pass without recourse. In response, Duffield claimed that “many of her gay friends” are offended by “men… who are married to women, who call themselves the ‘q’ word, and appropriate gay culture in a way that is deeply offensive to a lot in the gay rights movement”.Ĭomments like these invalidate the identity of bi/pan/queer men in different-gender relationships. So why is intolerance towards biphobia lagging behind?Įarlier this week, which happens to be Bi Awareness Week, Labour MP Rosie Duffield was asked about liking at tweet which criticised the “reclaiming” of the word queer and called trans people “heterosexuals cosplaying as the opposite sex” (an incident that prompted an ongoing Labour investigation).

But within progressive and queer circles, transphobia and homophobia are being called out and addressed, or at least discussed. JK Rowling’s ongoing, public spiral into Britain’s obsessive anti-trans rights movement has had little effect on her fame and fortune. Stories like Kevin Hart’s are still in the minority. This is not to say that anti-gay sentiments – and anti-trans rhetoric, especially – are no longer issues in public life. This has lead to a lot of outrage-click headlines about “cancel culture”, but sometimes it’s just plain old consequences, such as the time Kevin Hart was forced to exit the Oscars after his old homophobic tweets were rediscovered Many jokes that would have been considered mainstream only 10 years ago are now, rightly, considered unacceptable. Homophobic and transphobic comments have finally started to be taken seriously for the damage that they cause. Even within the queer community, biphobia isn’t being taken seriously, explains author Lois Shearing on Bi Visibility Day.

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