Sarah Shelton – Features Editor
Every year on Sept. 23, Bi Visibility day, also known as Bisexual Awareness Day, is observed to recognize the history of bisexuality and to celebrate the bisexual community.
According to the GLAAD website, “Bisexuality is a sexual orientation. Bisexual (commonly abbreviated as “bi”) people have the capacity to form attraction to and/or relationships with people of more than one gender or gender identity.”
The university’s own SAGE Center held an event to celebrate this day.
For this event, the SAGE Center set up a few bins on the table, with the Bisexual flag and pamphlets on how to be an ally, and created a game out of it.
For this game, students had to stand back and throw one of the center’s rainbow stress balls into a bin. Aaron Morabito, SAGE Center’s graduate intern, then asked them a trivia question based on bisexuality.
If students got it correct, they then got to take a little goody bag that had some candy, tissues and one of their rainbow stress balls.
Morabito said, “our event today definitely focused on debunking some of the myths and misconceptions about bisexual and pansexual people. I think spreading awareness on it is important, just being able to make people challenge their ideas of what they think about when they think of a bisexual person.”
Morabito said they believe the education part of the SAGE Center is really important, if not the most important part.
They work to teach others how to practice good allyship to the LGBTQ+ community.
“We try to do a lot of, especially on awareness days, bringing awareness to different identities and different issues that the LGBTQ+ community faces,” Morabito said. “Just being able to reach the campus community as much as possible and spreading the information outside of just our queer students [is what we aim for].”
Studio arts major Helena Lang, a freshman, saw on the SAGE Center’s Instagram the Bisexual Awareness Day event was happening and decided to come because of their love for the LGBTQ+ community.
“I used to identify as bisexual and my friends are bisexual,” Lang said. “I like to support the LQBTQ+ community, so I went to see what’s going on and what they’re doing for the event.”
This was Lang’s first time at the SAGE Center and they really enjoy the fact there is a safe space for the community.
“I really like it,” Lang said. “It’s an open space for anyone.”
Lang said they believe many people in the LGBTQ+ community face discrimination because other people do not understand they are just the same as them, a human.
“There are people out there that discriminate against others because of their sexualities, and I think it’s a good thing to be aware of that,” Lang said. “Even if someone is bisexual, they are still the same person and they’re allowed to be who they are.”
SAGE Center student worker and theater major Ryleigh Rivas, a senior, also believes it is very important to spread awareness about biphobia and how to be an ally for bisexual people.
“I think it’s fairly important [to spread awareness] because bisexuality is one of those things where there’s biphobia on both sides, from straight people and from gay people. It’s one of those sexualities that I feel like needs more awareness and support,” Rivas said.
Rivas got involved in the Sage Center last year and said they are excited to be able to participate in more events like this.
Follow “@scsusage” on Instagram to keep up with events they hold and to learn more about the LGBTQ+ community and why it’s so important to be an ally.
