Thanks Frank Ocean, Happy Bi Pride Day

Happy Bi Pride Day! Many thanks to Advocate.com for asking me to write an op-ed on "Why I Celebrate Bisexual Pride":

Back in the 1990s I hadn’t even heard of the word bisexual, and coming from the small coastal California town of San Luis Obispo, my exposure to anything gay was very limited.  Having been raised in the Church of God in Christ, a primarily black Pentecostal denomination, I had been placed in pastoral care by elementary school so as to stamp out my unnatural urges.  My mom was doing what she then thought was right to save my soul, so I read from Ezekiel and had elders lay hands on me to pray that devil right on out. Like many queer folks, I escaped my confusion of sexuality into a clusterfuck of sexual activity because none of it made a whole lot of sense.  People told me I would “come out eventually,” but I didn’t have any idea what they were talking about, as I had a preference for living indoors and really hated camping.  So I carefully folded up my pictures ferreted out of a trashed Playboy, hid them under the bed, and prayed after doing such “bad things” at the end of every night.  My heart still pounds to think of my fear, to remember the feeling of being caught in an undertow, as if I jumped into the biggest wave, only to find the light lacking and the deepness of the ocean void of air.  It seemed I lived without breathing for years, caught between the worlds of gay and straight.- Read More at Advocate.com

Winning Over Google

At the urging of bisexual advocacy organization BiNet USA, Google unblocked the term “bisexual,” and phrases such as “bisexual quotes,” “bisexual rights,” and “bisexual parenting” are now automatically suggested to Google users as of this month.

“It’s not every day one of the biggest companies in the world changes its mind, but we are thankful that Google now sees bisexual people just like everyone else,” said BiNet USA president Faith Cheltenham. “It will take time for bisexual search terms to be ranked as they were before the ban, but now bisexual people and their allies have a fighting chance to be seen, heard, and understood.” - http://www.advocate.com/society/technology/2012/09/11/google-removes-bisexual-its-list-dirty-words

FYI, prior to the unblock, "bisexual p" did not auto complete to "bisexual parenting", "bisexual q" did not auto complete to "bisexual quotes" and "bisexual r" did not auto complete to bisexual rights. 

As of the writing on this post, however, I was unable to get “bisexual” to either autocomplete, show Instant Google Search results, or suggest “quotes,” “rights,” or “parenting.” I can only wonder if the changes have not been rolled out yet, or if they’ve been rolled back already for some reason. - http://www.themarysue.com/google-uncensors-bisexual/

Google search results WILL vary by user, one user has already reported seeing "bisexual" when typing in "bi" while other users don't even see "bisexual quotes" when typing in "bisexual q". The block was lifted on August 21st as far as some VERY DEDICATED volunteers can tell.  It was on that date that "bisexual q" started producing "bisexual quotes".  Just a few weeks later, I get these results when typing in "bisexual q".

Excuse my language, but that IS SOME MOTHERFUCKING CHANGE!  

Now I would suppose I'm a power bisexual Google searcher, being President of a bisexual organization and married to a Google Android developer.  So I've seen different results for when I'm logged into Google vs when I'm not.  What matters is that SOMETHING is appearing, when previously NOTHING appeared.  Take a moment to imagine Google search ranking like a very large rain barrel, every search by a user being one drop in the barrel.  In 2009 when Google blocked "bisexual", every drop of bisexual fluid was removed.  Now in 2012 after "bisexual" has been unblocked, drops are being allowed to collect once more.  Based on previous SEO experience, I expect it will take 6 months to a year before we start seeing more results auto-completed and every search YOU do will help get us there faster.  This is a chance to show the world that the frequent studies indicating our majority in the LGBT community are not wrong, and this is our opportunity to better share the story of what it means to be bisexual. 

Some suggested searches:

Bisexual Resources

Bisexual Community

Bisexual Research

Celebrate Bisexuality Day

Very special thanks to: the BiNet USA board, especially Gary North and Chiquita Violette for their frequent edits, suggestions, and excellent corrections.  Additional thanks to all the Facebook users who spent loads of time searching Google in English (and other languages!) to see how far and wide this block went.  Many people made a difference, from allies like the National Center for Lesbian Rights to bi bloggers and authors like Nicole Kristal and Mike Syzmanski.  Tons of bisexuals contributed quotes and well wishes, and shared the message far and wide like Ellyn Ruthstrom from the Bisexual Resource Center and Jim Larsen from the Bisexual Organizing Project.  Additional help from SEO experts Peter Soltes and Max Goldberg was of huge assistance and helped me understand better some of the technicalities.  D.A., thank god you're my brother and C.C. way to signal boost, you're on fire!  Finally, my work is only made possible due to my husband, partner in crime, friend and editor MK.