Today, news hit that True Blood star Anna Paquin has come out as a bisexual, causing all of our girly hearts (and other parts) to flutter with delight — in addition to making a nice, pointed statement about coming out as bisexual. That it matters.
In a new PSA for the GIve A Damn campaign, Paquin stated “I’m bisexual” in an edit of people stating their sexual orientations. Turns out, they expected her to say “straight.” Her open statement didn’t just shock the people at the Give A Damn campaign: the stir it caused crashed the organization’s website and made a whole hell of a lot of people think about bisexuality, which pretty much made me stand up in my office chair and applaud the computer. When I posted about bisexuality in The B Stands for Bisexual it hit a nerve with many of you (the comments are amazing), and it raised awareness about many facets of bisexuality. Most notably its misinterpretation, the quiet difficulties of understanding yourself when you’re bi, and about bisexual invisibility. But it pales in comparison to the impact of Paquin’s simple two words, which hopefully will put bisexuality more strongly on the sexual orientation map, in the hearts and minds of many, and into the larger conversation. Even if some people think it’s disingenuine, or “no big deal.”
Plus: OMG HOT.
See also: Bye Bye Bisexual (San Francisco Chronicle, sfagate.com)
It’s cool to see another one of us out in the limelight, so sweet. :)
Meh. I don’t see what the big deal is. Lots of people identify as bi these days and usually wind up changing their minds. Plus, True Blood is crap. I support WeGiveaDamn (even though the site doesn’t give you any idea what they give a damn about, going by the domain name), but meh, big deal. Another Hollywood actress is bi. Wooooow. What a shocker. Yawn.
Good campaign.
I saw this yesterday on radar, but I wasn’t sure if it was an April Fool’s story or not. I’m very glad it isn’t. Coming out as bisexual seems very rare to me. Who else has done it? Bowie?
I also like how she did not abbreviate “bisexual.” “Gay” and “straight” almost seem tossed-off, but “bisexual” seems considered and focused. I suspect she knew what she was doing. Very impressed. And not the only hottie in that clip.
Awesome, good for her!