Bisexual/non-Monosexual & Queer Community

Once a year, a couple of hundred people gather somewhere in the UK for a weekend of discussion, socialising, and workshops known as Bicon. I spent last weekend at Bicon 2012, and when Kate asked me to write about it for this site, I wasn’t sure where to start at first. But then I realised that when I’ve said where I’ve been, I often get the same few questions: what? how? And, perhaps most often – why? So I’ll do my best – newbie to the scene that I am – to answer them. Not necessarily in any particular order mind you…

The most straightforward is probably the ‘what?’ As the name might suggest, it’s largely a place for bisexuals. But the event is not exclusive – as the main website explains

The basic structure looks like this: the first day is an academic conference - Birecon. Registering for this part is optional, but free if you go to Bicon. Then comes the opening of Bicon, with a large plenary. Each day sees several workshops, and social events. While I was there I went to session on learning to flirt with women; talking about privilege; a long bike ride along a local canal, and a trip out to get curry – and that’s a tiny portion of what’s on offer. All bookended by evenings of socialising. There are also large sessions where decisions on how Bicon should be run take place – everyone there can shape the future of the event and community.

The event takes place in a different part of the UK each year, and always involves a weekend at a venue that offers space for socialising, a range of workshops, large plenaries, as well as on-site accommodation – usually a university campus. There will be various social events, about 20-30 workshops a day, and full-time first aid and listening services available …

Bicon has evolved over the years. Last weekend marked its 30th anniversary, and there has been a lot of evolution over that time. There’s a great article that gives a sense of some of the changes that have happened over three decades …

Which brings me neatly on to the question of ‘why?’ Despite being actively involved in the LGBT movement from a relatively early age, I didn’t spend much time, if any, in exclusively bi spaces. Despite the fact that I’ve written about biphobia for both lesbian and hetero magazines, I didn’t think to look for a bi-specific space. And then I spent a weekend at Bicon and it changed my mind …

What Bicon, and the other events that flow out from it into the long year between cons, do is to claim that community and build it in a positive way. One of the organisers gave a short speech to this effect at the closing plenary that made me choke up slightly. There isn’t much of a bi community out there – most of the time. And then you go to Bicon, and there is …

I loved it. I’m coming back. Join me next year in Edinburgh: Bicon 2013