Bisexual and HIV Activist Khafre K. Abif honored with the 2015 POZ 100

 We congratulate Khafre on being POZ 100 Honoree for his continued work in the fight against HIV/AIDS

2015 POZ 100

 HRC #biweek Event

The Georgia Voice POZ Mag recognizes Atlanta HIV?AIDS Activists

At #biweek White House Public Policy Briefing

"I am so honored and truly humbled to be recognized with the other 99 in the 2015 POZ 100, long-term survivors for my work in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Most often I feel as if no one is hearing or seeing my work. I am grateful someone thought enough of me to nominate me, and the staff at POZ magazine to select me. There are many voices at the local, region and national level in this fight and for me be honored in this way provides me with more fuel to continue pushing, writing, speaking, sharing and reaching out to those living with HIV/AIDS and into communities most heavily impacted by this pandemic.
I must say that living with HIV for 26 years has taught me a great deal, the losses for me have also been great, but ultimately the reward has allowed the God I serve to use me as He sees fit. He found a space for this self-identified Bisexual African American HIV positive man to have and raise children, and use his passion and commitment to AIDS & LGBTQ activism, writing, editing, and blogging to find voice and encourage others to find their own voice.
What is missing from the piece, because each needed to be so short, is that I have a child born of my DNA, a nature birth with his mother and him remaining negative, the fact that I am currently in a fifteen years relationship with my female partner who also remains HIV negative, and the acknowledgement that I most likely contacted HIV from the unprotected sex I had with men because I self-identify as a Bisexual man."

Khafre K. Abif

Cornbread Fish and Collard Greens

Please support Khafre's project to build Ubuntu Press 

"The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them. If stories come to you, care for them.”

#publishing #voices #diversity #writing #maginalized 

World Aids Day December 1st, 2015 

Not One More : Transgender Day of Remembrance 2015

    About a week ago a petition appeared on change.org, asking that the largest LGBT (Lesbian,Gay,Bisexual, and Transgender ) organizations, such as HRC, The Task Force, and others drop the T, and stop fighting for transgender causes. The petition quickly went viral, spawning a thankfully much more successful counter and statements from the organization's that their commitment to trans rights remained.
   This Transgender Day of Remembrance, we as a community need to remember those on whose shoulders we stand and who paved the way for so many of this movements immense success. We would not have the nationwide success of marriage equality if it were not for the bravery, tenacity, and sacrifices of so many.     We have also lost so many this year, predominantly trans women of color. Petitions like the aforementioned are simply a small symptom, a tiny sneeze, representative of the disease of transphobia, and especially transmisogynoir that is often at the root of the deaths of so many.
   Though the overall movement, including trans rights, has made great strides recently it is still not enough. One death is too much.     On this TDOR we all need to firmly commit ourselves to fighting transphobia and transmisogynoir wherever we find it. Transphobia, and transphobic acts, even “harmless” ones like petitions or jokes in media are absolutely acts of violence. They are acts of terrorism against trans people. Terror and violence that combine with other forces like racism, police brutality and white cis hetero patriarchy to serve one end, the death of trans individuals.
   Every single member of the LGBQ community must pledge that even one death is too much. That next year we will have a shorter list to read out. We have the power, especially the cis white members, of this community, to make a difference.

BiNet USA Meets US Women's Soccer Team at the White House

Obama Honors US Women's Soccer Team on their 2015 FIFA World Cup
October 27th, 2015 

BiNet USA thanks Chong Moua for her reporting on the White House event honoring the US Women's Soccer team for BiNet USA's blog. Here's the exclusive photos and report! 

Photo Caption: BiNet USA blogger Chong Moua in front of the White House. 

Photo Credit: BiNet USA/Chong Moua

Being in the White House was an amazing experience! That day was a celebration and there was an energy and buzz in the air. It was amazing to see so many young kids attending this event with their parents and to see women and girl athletes be celebrated. It was also really cool that while waiting in line, I bumped into Rea Carey from the National LGBTQ Task Force. We got the chance to chat a bit about the excitement for Creating Change 2016.

  Photo Caption: The US Womens Soccer Team's Gift to Obama -- his own jersey! 

Photo Credit: BiNet USA/Chong Moua

As you can imagine, time was limited and lines were long. I had the opportunity to grab a quick photo with Abby Wambach, 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion and 2012 FIFA World Player of the Year.

Photo Caption: Chong Moua with the World Famous, Abby Wambach -- FIFA Women's World Cup Champion and 2012 FIFA World Player of the Year! — in the fair land o' The White House.

Photo Credit: BiNet USA/Chong Moua

Photo Caption: The brave young lady who wrote to the President and First Lady that women and girl athletes can be just as good as boys, if not better.

Photo Credit: BiNet USA/Chong Moua

 I had a couple favorite moments: 

1) Seeing a young girl step up to the podium to read the letter she wrote to the President and First Lady after her brother told her she couldn’t play sports as good as boys.  The letter shared how she believed girls could do anything just as good as boys, if not better. And how she was so proud that the US Women’s Soccer Team won this year’s FIFA Championship. The President said, “Playing like a girl means you’re a badass.”

 

 Photo Caption: Abby Wambach speaking to the press outside White House

Photo Credit: BiNet USA/Chong Moua

 2) Hearing Obama acknowledge Abby Wambach’s celebratory kiss with her wife while draped in an American Flag – “Showing us all how far we’ve come – On and off the field”
It was also really great to hear about the US Women’s Soccer Team’s national #SheBelieves Initiative, a campaign and message developed by the players that young girls can accomplish their goals and dreams ---- I feel this is such an important message, especially in a femme-phobic society and in sports where men get more visibility and recognition.

3) Lastly, seeing the President’s departure on the Marine One Helicopter! 

Photo Caption: Chong Moua in front of Air Force One chopper on White House lawn, What a thrill!

Photo Credit: BiNet USA/Chong Moua

 Photo Caption: Chong Moua in the White House smiling.

Photo Credit: BiNet USA/Chong Moua

Thank you Chong Moua for sharing your experience with the bisexual community!

Women Rock!!!! 
Binet USA #BiVisibility #BiPride #WomenAthletes #QueerAthletes #USWomensSoccerTeam #2015FIFAWorldCup


P.S.

Follow the social movement #SheBelieves on Twitter to learn more about the U.S. Women's Soccer campaign that sends the message to young girls that they too can accomplish all their goals and dreams.

Photo Caption: U.S. Women's Soccer Player Christen Press for the #SheBelieves campaign
Photo Credit: U.S. Women's Soccer

Bisexual Awareness Week 2015 Results Are In!

Photo: Multicolored person holding bisexual pride flag, image by Garnet.

The laptop gurus and code ladies have done their magic and the final numbers for Bisexual Awareness Week are in!

(drum roll)

199 million people reached with bisexuality related tweets during #biweek 2015!

Over 120,000 individual tweets shared over a quarter of a billion times!

In comparison, last year we saw thousands of tweets for #biweek and half a million people reached with bisexuality's most popular hashtag #bivisibilityday. So this is a huge increase in social engagement surrounding bisexuality. 

In fact, there was so much awesomeness, we had to make a video of the data and popular images of the week.

TOP HASHTAGS

 #bivisibilityday
#biweek
#bipride
#bisexualawarenessweek
#bisexualawareness
#bivisibility
#oneofus
#pansexual
#bisexuality
#biwh15
#stillbisexual

Photo: #biweek data  on Google Drive Credit: BiNet USA

Interested in doing bisexuality related social media campaigns in the future? 

Download our reports and find out the best influencers, top media and best accounts to follow for maximum exposure. All reports are providing by hashtracking.com, a leading source of Twitter data.

Our thanks to all #biweek co-partners which included:

GLAAD

Human Rights Campaign

National LGBTQ Task Force

National Center for Lesbian Rights

Movement Advancement Project

National Black Justice Coalition

Bisexual Resource Center

Bisexual Organizing Project

Center for Culture, Sexuality, and Spirituality

BiCast

Center Bi

LA LGBT Center

Los Angeles Bi Task Force

Bi Brigade

Extra special thanks to:

Zeke, Alexandra, Adriana, Brendan and everyone at GLAAD
Beth, Jay and all the awesome members of the Bi/Pan/Fluid/Queer Employee Resource Group at the Human Rights Campaign
Rea, Mark, Stacey, and everyone at the National LGBTQ Task Force
Dani, Erik, Alberto and everyone at the National Center for Lesbian Rights
Heron Greenesmith and Calla Rongerude at the Movement Advancement Project
Sharon, Isaiah and everyone at the National Black Justice Coalition
Jim, Jon, Joe, Matt and everyone at The LA LGBT Center
The Entire Bisexual Community but especially Lynnette McFadzen, Aud Traher, AJ Walkley, and the entire board of BiNet USA.
Cathy Renna and the whole Target Cue team!

And of course a national Bisexual Awareness Week would never have been possible without Sheri Atkinson and the University of California Davis LGBT Center which first launched a Bisexual Awareness Week for its students in 2008.

 

Some of the most popular images shared during #biweek are below! 

Photo: BiNet USA co-founder Robyn Ochs with GLAAD's Alexandra Bolles at the White House Bisexual Community Policy Briefing, 9/21/15. 

Photo: Bi Asian American advocate Joy Messinger (@joydelivery) holding bi pride flag 

Photo: HRC #biweek meme that says I am bisexual and I support equality. The Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD both launched new support resources for the bi, pan, fluid, queer (bi+) community during this year's Bisexual Awareness Week.

Bi advocate Laurel A McDonald (@lolo_potamus) created the hashtag #oneofus to draw attention to bi figures often erased in history. The picture of bisexual icon Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen, was one of the most widely shared.

Photo: Margaret Cho quote featured in GLAAD #biweek memes, see them all at www.glaad.org/biweek2015

Photo: Person holding heart that looks like glitter bi flag 

Photo: Standing in front of the White House, Dr. Lauren Beach, Esq., Dr. Herukhuti and Heron Greenesmith, Esq., the policy coordinators for the Bisexual Community Policy Briefing at the White House. 

 Photo: Large A in bi colors. Advocate.com changed its logo to bi colors for the whole week! Thanks Advocate!

 Photo: Bi and Proud meme from the National Center for Lesbian Rights. NCLR held a Twitterstorm during #biweek to spread the word about the bi community and NCLR staffer and BiNet USA board member Dani Siragusa attended the Bisexual Community Policy Briefing at the White House and wrote about her experiences here.

Photo: The Movement Advancement Project launched a new bisexual infographic, and it ended up being one of the more popular shares of the week.

Photo: Bisexual superheroes including Constantine, Catwoman, and Wonder Woman in a comic drawing. 

Photo: Camille Beredjick (@cberedjick) at GLSEN was featured in an MTV News Story about being a bi millennial

Photo: The Human Rights Campaign hosted a Bisexual Community Health and Wellness event on 9/22 with a panel featuring Theresa Sparks, bi+ trans icon and Executive Director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and Khafra Abif, Black bisexual HIV/AIDS educator and writer.

Photo: RJ Aguiar joined Ian Harvie, Connor Manning and Kristina Wong at the LA Bi Task Force 6th annual Bi Arts Fest.

Photo: Bisexual actress Evan Rachel Wood helped kickstart #biweek with tweets centered around the Human Rights Campaign Bisexual Health Brief leading to coverage of bisexuality on Entertainment Tonight, US Magazine, People, and USA Today among others. Image Credit: BelieveOutLoud.com

Photo: Images for multiple intersections of bisexuality, pansexuality, demisexuality, asexuality, gender identity and expression were also popular during #biweek. 

Photo: This year's #biweek logo was made by the talented Nikki Roszko of Darling Media Productions

To keep up with Bisexual Awareness Week, don't forget to visit bisexualweek.com


#biweek was made possible by the generous contributions of The Arcus Foundation