Dear Reader,
The theme of this issue is “Pop Culture.” I came out as bi 42 years ago into defeaning silence. Since that time, there has been a slowly increasing trickle of media figures and film or television characters who could be considered to be bisexual, and the internet had yet to be invented, so bi+ people looking for public representations of people like themselves were basically out of luck. There were occasional bisexual story lines in films or television, but the characters’ behavior was almost always stereotypical, and the word bisexual rarely used. Thankfully, we seemed to have reached a tipping point, and people coming out today are having a different experience. When I recently asked people on social media to help generate a list of bi+ pop culture figures, I received 50+ names of actors and singers, as well as more than two dozen fictional characters characters.
In this issue, we present the writing of Alexandra Bolles, Anna Schmidt, Casey Lawrence, Theresa Tyree, Gloria Jackson-Nefertiti, Shayna Maci Warner, Lain Mathers, Erica, Niko Firefoxy, Diane Verrochi, Jane Barnes, Mariah Cruz, Beth Innis, Alex, Kirsten Fedorowicz, Tamsin, and—via Twitter—posts from Avery F., Laurel Clarke, B As In Broke, and Erica. I interview Christine Gangstad Johansen of Oslo, Norway, and author MB Austin interviews author Cheryl Head. There’s an update on the Lambda Literary and Bisexual Book awards, and artwork by WhyNotBoth Co, Jo-Anne Carlson, and a new contributor, Elizabeth Fernandez. And, of course, our calendar of events completes this issue.
I am also delighted to announce the onboarding of Katelynn Bishop as Assistant Editor. Katelynn is introduced more fully on p. 23.
Enjoy!