The BOP Connection - June 2017

6/9/2017

The BOP Connection

June 2017

A Newsletter bi the Bisexual Organizing Project
Edited by Cary Crawford
Co-edited by Sally Corbett

Happy Pride Month!

Photos from Bi-lesque: Gender Anarchy!

On Sunday, May 21, our community gathered at LUSH to celebrate our trans, non-binary, two spirit, and gender non-conforming identities with a groundbreaking event featuring variety performances of burlesque, drag, pole, and more! The PHENOMENAL performers included local superstars Marcell Michelle Obama, Sweetpea, Blaze Bordeaux, Jean Luc Dicard, Esmé Rodríguez, Stella Rosa, Natalie Venom, and Vod Sinclair. The show was a smashing success! Check out tons more photos on our Facebook page!

Photos courtesy of Nadia Honary

LGBTQIA+ Resource Fair at Century College

Sally Corbett and I attended the resource fair at Century College West Campus in late April. We tabled with other organizations like the Rainbow Health Initiative, the Bridge, Planned Parenthood, Tubman Center, Outfront, Americorps, The Nest, Red Door, Minnesota Aids, and PFLAG. Other colleges and universities LBGTQ+ groups came from UMD, Hamline, and Metro State, I had a chance to communicate with Maxwell Poessnecker M.S, the organizer and Associate Director of Student Life at Century College. They said the purpose of PRIDE Week is to highlight LGBTQIA+ awareness during the month of April. Max started a PRIDE Week, as a way to showcase the Lavender Graduation Celebration. Much like Coming Out Week, PRIDE Week is an opportunity to create visibility and urgency around LGBTQ+ equity and inclusion. The purpose of the event is to make a greater impact beyond Lavender Graduation Celebration, the college hosts a collection of events for continual campus engagement and education. This will be an annual event. Yay! During PRIDE Week, Century College held events including: -LGBTQIA2S+ Resource Fair, a Keynote Speaker, Nate Cannon: The Invisible Man, PRIDE BBQ, Soup, Gender, and Sexuality, and a campus-wide Day of Silence campaign and rally.

BOP at LGBTQ Lobby Day
By Sally Corbett

On April 20, I attended LGBTQ Lobby Day at the Minnesota State Capitol, hosted by OutFront MN, on behalf of BOP. It was an exciting and inspiring day of activism in action! The day's events began with a selection of workshop institutes highlighting topics such as de-escalation, safety of youth in schools, and unity in the face of adversity. Workshops were followed by a town hall forum with Representative Keith Ellison, who heard testimonies from community members about how being queer and trans affects our lives. Many attendees told personal stories about their struggles surrounding access to healthcare, and facing discrimination in housing and employment. Ellison declared his commitment to representing our issues at the federal level, and giving voice to our concerns.

The town hall hearing was followed by a rally in the Capitol rotunda. State legislators banded together at the podium to voice their dedication to supporting LGBTQ+ rights for their constituents. Other speakers represented racial, religious, and gender diverse communities, and told moving accounts of their personal experiences. Parents advocated for safe and respectful schools for their transgender children, and youth spoke of their experiences with conversion therapy. The roster of speakers filled rally-goers with inspiration and a sense of empowerment.

After the rally, constituents had the opportunity to meet with their legislators and other members of their districts, and share their experiences to directly advocate for LGBTQ+ equity and ask their representatives for public support. OutFront provided outlines and coaching for these meetings, making them an inviting and accessible endeavor for everyone, and alleviating any pressure to be a policy expert.

OutFront's official platform emphasized three core issues involving bills proposed in the current legislative session. Banning conversion therapy, especially for LGBTQ+ youth, and defeating religious exemption laws and anti-trans legislation were the foundation of the platform. OutFront's focused, timely goals and effective organization made LGBTQ+ Lobby Day an inspiriting, powerful event for the queer community.

Member Profile: Bill Burleson

Bill Burleson came out in 1988, and although he hung out with the gay and lesbian crowd at the time, they tended to dismiss his relationships with his girlfriends, until he married his wife in 1991, and they couldn’t anymore. He began to look for a bi community, and found it at the BECAUSE conference in 1993. He met several friends there, and has attended most of the conferences since. He met someone who told him about a bi men’s support group, and when that group ended a year later, he and a friend approached the Men’s Center about hosting another. He and his friend, David founded and facilitated that group for several years. Bill said it was well liked, hosting often 25 on a Friday night. He still has fond memories and many friends from that time. Later he served as Vice Chair of the Men’s Center as he became more involved during 1997-1998.
He had been working as a glass artist and was a store/studio owner, but his as his taste for social service grew, he took a job at RAAN, Rural Action AIDS Action Network as an office manager half-time. Shortly thereafter he became full time, and began facilitating bi and gay men’s support groups across the state. Two groups stuck out for him, one in Hinkley that met in the basement of Toby’s Truck Stop, which later became Pine City Pride, and an LBGT group in Detroit Lakes.
He had been at the same time becoming involved with BECAUSE starting in 1996/97. He co-chaired the conference in 1998/99, when it was held at Metro State for the first time. In 2000 and 2001 it was moved to Milwaukee, then in 2002 it went to Ames Iowa. The members of the bi community’s groups had begun to wane, like the Bi Connection and Bi Women and Friends, the Men’s support group and women’s at Chrysalis. So they decided to create a local year- round organization so that they would not have to rely on Outfront as the fiscal sponsor, and could become a fiscally independent entity. So began BOP in 2000.
Bill served as chair as they began planning, this gave rise to the weekly Bi Forum, the Chick Chat, Bis Eat Out, a hotline and a newsletter. The group was granted a 503C status, released an annual report, and completed a needs assessment all done in 2001. He stepped aside from BOP and In 2002 he started producing Bi Cities, a community access show on cable tv, with Marge Charmoli and Anita Kozan as hosts. He worked in that capacity for 5 years. Meanwhile, he was instrumental to the International Conference on Bisexuality in 2003, which BOP hosted.He then changed his focus to writing. He wrote and in 2005 published Bi America: Myths, Truths, and Struggles of an Invisible Community (Rutledge Press), an introduction to bisexuality and the bisexual community. The success of Bi America led to more writing opportunities. He contributed a column in Lavender Magazine 2004/05, called In the Pink, on gay/bi men’s health as part of his work at Red Door Clinic. He left that job but continued as a columnist with As the Bill Tolls, featuring LBGT community groups. He wrote essays for various publications, and for Lambda Literary Review as a columnist of bi-focused books, and helped judge the annual bisexual category for 2007, then chaired the committee in 2008.
Meanwhile, Bill’s work in bi activism continued. He served on the board of directors for PFund for 4 years. In 2012 Bill spearheaded and completed a needs assessment and published for BOP in 2013. Part of which included forming a new discussion group, the Bi Salon, still continuing today. Since then, Bill has represented BOP at the Pride reception at the White House in 2013, and he participated in the White House bisexual community meeting in 2015.
Bill has recently published a new book, Tales of Block E, stories about the seedy, dangerous fun of this downtown Minneapolis locale. The block, between 7th and 6th, First and Hennepin Ave, was notorious for porno joints, dive bars, Shinders, and Moby Dick’s, and the World/Academy theater. The characters in his book are a resident in a flophouse, porno joint workers, and bystanders all pulled into the morass of the culture of the block. Bill worked for a time in the theater which has since been transformed to the Cowles Center for the Arts. The Nicollet Diner hosted the book launch party on May 30th, where Bill says previously a bi reading night was held for poetry reading, a story slam, essays, with a $100 pot for the winner. I was unable to attend, but I’m sure it was as packed as it had been on that previous literary night. Good luck to Bill, and you can see his book on Talesofblocke.com website, he will be featuring it in a blog, and posting it on Facebook next year.

Shannon Blowtorch & Sweetpea, 89.3 The Current, First Avenue, Smirnoff present: GROWN & SEXY PRIDE VII!

GROWN & SEXY always brings the best of the best together at First Avenue Mainroom for PRIDE Weekend! This year will be no different. Mark your calendars for the 7th year of the all-night dance party infused with incredible, dynamic onstage performances. The talent is spectacular, the music is amazing, and all are welcome! BOP will be hanging out at our booth all night, be sure to stop by and say hi!

Starring the Audio-Visual Entertainment of Antic Studios.

Featuring:
SWEETPEA
DJ SHANNON BLOWTORCH

Special appearances by:
* Mica May
* Dyke.s Do Drag
* Ladies of LaFemme - Gay 90's
* Dragged Out
* The Vigilantease Collective
* Deviance
* BRKFST
* Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

LET’S CELEBRATE!
Friday, June 23rd
First Avenue Mainroom
9pm doors
18+
$10 adv/ $14 door

G&S Pride is made more awesome by the generous support of our sponsors: Smirnoff Vodka, First Avenue & 7th St Entry, 89.3 The Current,AC Hotel Minneapolis Downtown, Redbull, Lavender Magazine, Knocked Out Entertainment, Decent Exposure, Midwest Makeup Supply & Venus Unveiled LLC!

Editor's Note

Let me introduce myself, my name is Cary Crawford, and I’ll be the editor of the BOP newsletter for the duration of the ride. I hope you enjoy reading about our various activities and personalities, I’ll try to feature an interview with a BOP board member, and a BOP member profile, info about all our activities that we offer for member participation, upcoming events, and features on BOP allies. I’d also like to include member poetry and creative writing, artwork, and photos.So send me yours. Let me know if you want to interview and write an article, or edit another’s writing. Right now it’s just me and Sally Corbett. I’ll try to get this newsletter out quarterly, with a special editions dedicated to the BECAUSE conference and PRIDE weekend. If you think you’d like to help out or include your work contact me at cary.crawford@bisexualorganizingproject.org, I’d love to see what you’ve got for me.

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The BOP Connection - March 2017

3/17/2017

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The BOP Connection

March 2017

A Newsletter bi the Bisexual Organizing Project
Edited by Cary Crawford
Co-edited by Sally Corbett

March is Bisexual Health Awareness Month!

BOP Represents the Bi+ Community at Opportunity Health Conference

On February 27 and 28th, Sally, Timid then Camille and I had the chance to table at the Opportunity Conference: Advancing LBGTQ Health, at the University of Minnesota Continuing Education Event Center in St Paul. It was hosted by the Rainbow Health Initiative and sponsored by many, chief among them UnitedHealth Group, also Allina Health, Children’s Minnesota, Health Partners, Mayo Clinic, MN Department of Human Services, Pride Institute, Stagetime Productions, HealthEast, Meridian Behavioral Health-Latitudes Programs, Twin Cities Pride, Right at Home, Rural AIDS Action Network, Family Tree Clinic, MN AIDS Project, NuWay House, and Stratis Health. Sessions included topics on LBGTQ clients and substance use and mental health; prostate cancer treatment for older gay men; mentorship experiences of LBGTQ undergrads pursuing health careers; transgender health barriers and risks; bisexual erasure, stigma and resistance; Tobacco use among marginalized populations; minority stress and mental illness, intersectionality among POC; and dementia in older populations. Richard Carlbom spoke about conversations with lawmakers on our topics and issues, Dr Gary Gates addressed his plenary on the demographics of coming out, and Dr Beverly Greene covered ethnoracial and sexual minority intersections in health.

Rainbow Health Initiative published their 2015 Survey results and cited in sexual orientation 25% identify as bisexual, 4% as pansexual, 3% as asexual, and 2% as fluid/questioning. 25% identify as transgender and of those 5% are trans women, 5% trans men, 14% are nonbinary, gender queer, gender nonconforming, or genderfluid. While 76% of lesbians, 74% of gay men, 52% of queer people were out to their doctor, only 34% of bisexuals were. 51% of respondents said that cost was a barrier to health care. 32% said they have been homeless in their lifetime. 58% of LBGTQ participants reported and unwanted sexual act in their lifetime. 61% said they had depression, 45% had PTSD, and 36% had an anxiety disorder. 41% of LBGTQ respondents have smoked 100 cigarettes or more, and of these 49% have quit smoking, 22% are current smokers. In the food security responses, 25% had cut the size of a meal or skipped one because there wasn’t enough money, 24% didn’t eat because there wasn’t enough money for food. To read the full version of this report visit: www.rainbowhealth.org

LBGTQIA Connections Support Group

Saturdays, 1 - 2 pm, Minneapolis, Living Table United Church of Christ, 3805 E 4th Street
For more info contact David at 612-920-3925

Nami Connections is a recovery support group for adults with mental illness regardless of their diagnosis. Every group is offered free of charge and meets weekly for 90 minutes. All are led by trained individuals who are also in recovery - people who understand the challenges we face. Nami Connection groups offer a flexible and casual environment without an educational format, and no registration or enrollment obligation is required.

Provided by NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Health Minnesota, 800 Transfer Road, Suite 300, St Paul, MN 55114, 1-651-645-2948

Meet our Board Chair, Leah Yoemans!

Leah Yoemans is our new BOP Board of Directors Chairwoman, and she is a human dynamo. She’s been busy since elected in January making much needed changes in our online presence and in planning, and forming new alliances. She’s originally from Minnesota but has spent time living in Georgia and California too. She’s married and has two kids. Leah is a K8 science educator, STEM specialist, currently teaching in a south suburban elementary school. She has volunteered in LBGTQ and homeless organizations. She first got involved with BOP through attending the monthly discussion group at the South Side Cafe. She feels participation in this group helped her connect with the community, as they talked about identity and Bi+ issues. She also went to the BECAUSE conference for the past three years, and had amazing experiences, was overwhelmed by the amount of information and support there, and formed many friendships with other conference attendees.

She had been thinking about joining the BOP board for a couple of years, but time always seemed to be the issue holding her back. Time is still tight but she has committed herself to making more time for social justice and community support. She is really excited about our strategic planning retreat results, we’ve come away having created a plan for the future, a roadmap for future boards articulating what needs to happen in the next few years. As chair she is looking forward to growing BOP membership, member participation and involvement and developing a stronger organization. Specifically Leah wants to increase community building, advocacy and education, continue to grow BOP partnerships with other groups and individuals, and to organize events for BOP membership.

She calls on members to get more involved in BOP by helping to financially support our organization, and although our membership is free, we can go to the website and donate at whatever level we feel we can contribute. We can also volunteer for BOP events, especially BECAUSE and PRIDE, and there are local opportunities to table at other groups’ events. We can create events on the BOP Meetup site. If you want to get together for dinner and drinks, walk around the lake, go to a movie, list an event and invite other members. She is also seeking us to be present at current programming and existing activities. Leah says she’s happy about the people on our new board, she describes us as a fantastic bunch of people, passionate about leading, with interesting backgrounds and different skill sets. She expects good things and hopes to serve the community with a lot of revitalized energy.

Meet Board Director At-Large, Sarah Sharp!

I met Sarah Sharp at the BOP Annual Board Meeting in January of this year. I was impressed by this young woman immediately. She’s smart, committed to social justice and fervent about her many interests and activities. I talked to her on the car trip to Osceola, Wisconsin where we attended the new BOP board strategic planning retreat. She is from South Minneapolis, but has moved after high school to the far western suburbs of Minneapolis. She said she adored living in South, and credits it with shaping her early life. She is from a small family, just her and her parents, but they get together with lots of relatives on the holidays.

I asked her when she first realized she was bisexual. She related how she had an inkling in preschool, she liked to ride the little train and try to get the girls to play “Cops and Robbers”. But it wasn’t until high school at a “Stand Up Speak Out”, event when an older student who was a lesbian spoke about LBGTQ issues, that she thought, “Maybe I do like girls?!” She came out in sophomore year, and remembers starting to wear a tie to school. Which she adds may have been more about nonconforming gender identity. She was having a discussion with her parents when she came out to them. They had expressed concern that she didn’t hang around any boys or had gone on any dates. She made a comment about her mother’s hairstyle, referring it as “butch”, and her mother asked, “Why would you think that? Are you gay?” And to that, Sarah announced, “I’m bisexual!” I asked Sarah if she is in a relationship currently, and she replied, “I’m fabulously single!" She would like someone who can embrace her fluidity, as she can present masculine and sometimes feminine. They would have to be creative and intellectual, read a lot of books, and be able to discuss and explore the world with her.

She works at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, in Equity and Inclusion. She is also currently interning with the Better Futures Minnesota organization that assists men in adjustment for reentry to society. She is also a student earning her BA in social work. In her spare time, she is a member of a band that performs Funk, Jazz, R&B, and some Latin tunes. Sarah plays the saxophone and flute. One fun thing she want BOPs members to know about her is that she is a music buff. Her favorite artists/groups include Steely Dan, Tupac, David Sanborn, Prince, Sting, and Chopin. She also has a voracious appetite for knowledge. She has researched everything from photons to why people lose their accent when they sing. She describes herself as serious, with a quirky sense of humor, she loves reading, has a lot of career drive, and is passionate about life.

Photo by Sophia Hantzes

BiCities Television Revival

I had a talk with Marge Charmoli about BiCities a television program featured on the local cable tv channels in Minneapolis and St Paul. It is a format that interviews Bi folks, LBGTQ organizations, and allies and their aim is to educate the public at large about bisexual people, increase visibility and promote bi-related projects like the Because conference and Pride weekend. The show has also featured national and international bi celebrities like Robin Ochs and Ron Fox and local delegates to the White House policy forum on Bisexuality in 2014. It was started in 2002 by founders Bill Burleson who was the producer until 2007, Marge Charmoli and Anita Kozan. The show has had a 13 year run, and this will be their 15 year anniversary on air. They have produced around 300 shows until 2015 when the studio space had to relocate. Now BiCities has a studio location secured but needs a new director and camera crew. You could be part of this exciting team and make an critical impact in the community, just contact Marge at drcharmoli@drcharmoli.com.

Bi-Weekly Writing Group

Ashley sat down with me recently at a local coffee shop to talk about the BOP Bi-Weekly Writers group that she facilitates. For her it started when she attended a AWP, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs in Minneapolis in 2015, and stopped at the LAMBDA Literary table there, whose host informed her that for there to be a Bisexual category, they needed 10 entries in each writing type. She has helped her friend edit a memoir for publication which has successfully gone to press, and she is currently working on a PhD in English at the University of Minnesota. She has published one creative non-fiction piece with a literary journal, and has experience in creative writing, editing and teaching writing to college students.

Ashley has led this BOP Meetup Writing group for about 6 months now. I asked her what BOP members who want to participate in the writing group can expect to find when they attend a meeting. She recommends they bring a selection to read aloud to the group, and be up front about with the other members about what kind of help and feedback they want. Be prepared to bring a sample of whatever genre you are working on: about three poems, a chapter of a novel or memoir, an essay or a story. She relates that encouragement of new writers is critical as we may not even believe we’re writers until we’re in an environment that helps us see what we can do. As for Ashley, working with her friend on his manuscript has pushed her to write a memoir of her own. All are welcome at the meeting. Please check the BOP Meetup site for dates, times and locations.

Bi+ Book Club at Quatrefoil Library

Hi, my name is Cary, and I am the facilitator for the book club. We meet every first Wednesday evening from 7 - 9pm at the Quatrefoil Library, 1220 E Lake Street, in South Minneapolis. It is on the ground floor of the Spirit of the Lake apartment building just past Heart of the Beast Theater as you’re driving west on Lake. The number 21 Metro Transit bus stops at the corner. There is free parking in the lot behind the building. It is handicap accessible.

We have had a regular number of members show for our book club events, and we have had some lively and stimulating conversations about the book, our experiences, Bi+ issues and identities. We read books about Bi+ characters or written by Bi+ authors. So far we have read the comic anthology, Anything That Loves, Comics Beyond ”Gay” and “Straight”, edited by Charles “Zan” Christiansen; a memoir, A Cup of Water Under My Bed by Daisy Hernandez; poetry by Edna St Vincent Millay; Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin; Sirena Selena, by Mayra Santos-Fuentes, about a young transgender chanteuse; and for April, Euphoria by Lily King, a fiction based on the fieldwork of Margaret Mead, very suspenseful and chilling; and City of Devi by Manil Suri, about a dystopian future for May’s book club meeting.

We ask that you read the book beforehand, but if you don’t finish in time, come anyway. You can find out what you missed and catch up with the story. We’re a fun group, easy to talk to, and the discussion questions and book selection are posted on the BOP Meetup site with plenty of time to read and reflect. I try to select books that you can get at the local libraries so don’t feel you have to buy them. I do and then donate them to the Quatrefoil, to increase their Bi+ offerings. So we hope to see you next month at the Quatrefoil!

Bi+ Discussion Group with Vera Sky

I met Vera Sky at the Central Library to chat about her work with the BOP Meetup Discussion Group, formerly known as the Bi Salon. She has been leading the group for about 3 years now, but is moving soon to join her partner in Seattle, so she will be stepping down as the facilitator. She shared a little history with me about how the group got started by Bill Burleson who had a specific set of questions he wanted covered as he was conducting research at the time. He turned it over to Rebecca, who hosted the meetings for awhile then,she turned it over again. They’ve been meeting at the South Side Cafe for some years now, and eventually moved to the Exchange Room right adjoining the cafe. They meet every second Thursday of the month, from 6 - 7:30 pm when the space closes. I’ve attended a couple and they are enlightening and empowering, and have seen participating members form a cohort that has led to more involved work with BOP.

The format is of rotating set of questions, on being bi and out in the workplace, in family gatherings, during the holidays, what we want for the future of the community, lessons learned from our personal journey, coming out, Because Conference stories. She says it’s a great place to talk about issues and events that we’re unable to in our normal lives, as being Bi is a given.

Vera got involved with BOP by participating in other activist oriented organizations and she was looking for polyamorous community, when she realized that she loved both men and women and that she was bisexual. She had kind of an Aha! moment at the Because Conference she was attending. She has been a BOP board member and stepped into the discussion group moderator role when a vacancy came up. She has experience working with sensitive groups and is especially able to intercept a dark curve as it approaches the standing topic on the floor. She hopes that the discussions can continue to excite, help form friendships and provide support. The experience that many have is that they are not alone, no matter our differences, we share similar struggles, especially erasure. She thinks it’s time for someone new to take on the group, for new energy, new blood. The next leader will have to recruit and advertise for more participation from BOP membership and new joiners.

Vera has been in the Twin Cities since 2008, and graduated from UMN in 2010 and that’s when she started looking for different communities. She works in the circus arts: pole dance, lyra, silks, acro yoga, and hula hooping and teaches at the Rabbit Hole. She has already found a job in Seattle where she can use her circus talents, and is looking forward to living in a community that is so proactive about protecting the environment, supporting LBGTQ communities, and an active life. We will miss her and wish her well in her new adventures.

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A New Board of Directors for a New Year!

1/24/2017

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Bisexual Organizing Project's (BOP) Annual Meeting and Board Elections were held on January 22nd, and we are pleased to announce the 2017 Board of Directors! The election results are as follows:

Leah Yoemans, Chair
Camille Holthaus, Secretary
Whitney Briggs, Treasurer
Lo A. McDonald, Shawna McNamara, AL Genaro, Sarah Sharp, Cary Crawford, and Mariah Sheehy are our Members-At-Large.

This is an amazing group of individuals from our bi+ community, each one of them a passionate leader ready to make a difference in our community in 2017!

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A letter from the Chair regarding language:

9/30/2016

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As non-monosexual individuals, we understand that language often fails to meet the needs of those who don’t cling to artificial dichotomies. Thankfully, language shifts and grows to meet those needs – often slowly, and often painfully, but eventually. Many of us have experienced the relief of finally finding the word that describes us; not so others can label us, but so that we have a word that speaks to our hearts. Others still seek their own meanings and labels for what they already know about themselves. As words are created and reclaimed, we can embrace this change as one that makes the world better.

However, change comes with some cost, and sometimes our own comfort is disturbed by all the new terms and ideas that seem to “suddenly” spring from nowhere. I know it can seem like things are changing too fast, but as a community it’s important for us to recognize that these ideas have always been with us; it’s only the words surrounding them that have changed.

At BOP events, you will be asked to provide your pronouns. It may be the first time you’ve had to think about it, because our society assigns them *to you*. However, BOP holds an open space for defining who you are on your own terms. If you are asked for your pronouns at an event and are having trouble answering, think of this sentence: “Yes, I know Colleen; I met ____ at BECAUSE.” There are many ways to complete that sentence [for example: him, her, them, hir, Colleen], and we’re asking you what YOU would like to use. “Yes, I know Colleen; I met [her] at BECAUSE” is appropriate in this case, because I identify my pronouns as she/her/hers.

We give our pronouns so that people don’t inadvertently use the wrong ones when speaking to or about us. While it might be tempting to say “I have no pronoun preference,” you’re putting the responsibility on others to choose your labels. If you identify with the gender you were assigned at birth, it can seem awkward. You may be thinking “people should just *know* that I identify as ‘she’.” But it’s these assumptions that lead to violence against members of our community. It’s the same assumption that people make when they think they should “just know” your sexuality by looking at the gender of your partner.

While we’re specifically addressing pronouns, this is also true for how others choose to define their sexual orientation or their gender. If someone identifies themselves in a way that is unfamiliar to you, respect that it’s meaningful to them. Please show that respect by both providing your own pronouns, and using the pronouns that others have specified for themselves. We are a strong and vibrant community, and our strength lies in our respect for those who share it with us.

Colleen Waldie
Board Chair

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Celebrate Bi+ Community at Twin Cities Pride

6/24/2016

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BOP folks carrying big bi flag in Twin Cities Pride Parade

Calling all bisexual, pan, omni, fluid, non-monosexual queer, and other bi+ folks and allies, come celebrate Bi+ community with the Bisexual Organizing Project at Twin Cities Pride on June 25-26, 2016 in Minneapolis.

Twin Cities Pride Festival - Saturday and Sunday
Let's fill Loring Park with beautiful bisexual, pan, omni, non-monosexual queer, and other bi+ people and allies! Come visit the BOP Booth (B020, B022, & B024 across from the Loring Park Dunn Brothers).

We also need volunteers to pass out stickers, host a community booth for the bi+ community, sell bi+ swag at the BOP Store, and more! Volunteering is a great way to meet folks and get connected with the community. Sign up now!

Ashley Rukes GLBT Pride Parade - Sunday
Choose between carrying the Big Bi Flag with unit #7 or march with streamers and signs with unit #21. Line up by 10:15 am along 3rd Street between Hennepin and Marquette in Minneapolis. More details: https://www.tcpride.org/wp-content/uploads/2016-Parade-Participant-Guide.pdf

Dress for the weather and walking. The parade route is longer and hotter than you think! Unit leaders needed, please email bop@bisexualorganizingproject.org if interested. Sign up now at or come join us on Sunday. Feel free to jump in anywhere along the Parade route.

We look forward to seeing you this weekend. Happy Pride!

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BECAUSE

Annual Conference
Fall, 2017
TBA, Twin Cities, MN

LEARN MORE

Mission

Build, serve and advocate for an empowered bisexual, pansexual, fluid, queer, and unlabeled (bi+) community to promote social justice.

Vision

Within the next five years grow Bisexual Organizing Project (BOP) into a successfully-run Upper Midwest nonprofit organization with annual funding of $100,000 that provides community building, education, and advocacy for the bisexual, pansexual, fluid, queer, and unlabeled (bi+) community and our allies.

The BOP Connection - June 2017

The BOP Connection

Happy Pride Month!

The BOP Connection - March 2017

The BOP Connection

March is Bisexual Health Awareness Month!

﻿A New Board of Directors for a New Year!

A letter from the Chair regarding language:

Celebrate Bi+ Community at Twin Cities Pride

BECAUSE

Mission

Vision

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A New Board of Directors for a New Year!