“There’s actually a much simpler, more obvious, and more likely explanation for the reason so many bisexuals wind up in opposite-sex partnerships: The odds fall enormously in their favor…
… the [percentage of the population that is LGBTQ] is actually closer to a scant 3.8 percent. So not only is it statistically more likely more likely that a bisexual person will wind up with a partner of the opposite sex; it’s equally likely that they’ll wind up with someone from the over 96 percent of the population who identifies as straight.
… Add to that the fact that due to persistent biphobia, a large number of gay men and lesbians still flat-out refuse to date bisexuals, and it becomes even more apparent that the deep ends of our relatively narrow dating pools are, for bisexuals, overwhelmingly populated by straight people…”
— Bisexual writer Kristina Marusic discussing a 2013 Pew Research LGBT Survey that found 84 percent of self-identified bisexuals in committed different-sex relationships. Marusic mentions that the same biphobia that creates health disparities among bisexual people may also compel them to enter different-sex relationships. She also acknowledges that some of the 84 percent may be in multi-partner relationships.
She also mentions accused bi-phobe and sex columnist Dan Savage who once advised bisexuals to still come out to their friends, families and co-workers to help end bi-erasure, especially once bi people “disappear” (our word, not his) into different-sex relationships.
(featured image via Andrew Barclay)
