Last week was National Coming Out Week, with National Coming Out Day being celebrated on October 11th. It was a chance for LGBTQ+ individuals to recognize and embrace who they are in their community.

Although National Coming Out Day serves a wonderful purpose in letting people proudly proclaim their sexuality to their friends, family, and world, it got me thinking about a problem that has plagued the LGBTQ+ community for some time now: the dismissal and exclusion of bisexual individuals. Whether it be bisexual men or women, I always hear the same comments being made: That they're confused, or sexually promiscuous, or just pretending for attention.

...And these comments are often coming from those within the community! This is especially staggering, considering a study from the CDC's National Survey of Family Growth found that more people are reporting as being bisexual in the United States.

Though it appears bisexuality is becoming more normalized in regards to the general public, I find it incredibly disheartening to see posts on the internet made by someone gay or lesbian bashing bisexuals.

More often then not, a bisexual's self-identification is questioned because they might "pass" as straight. I have close friends who identify themselves as bisexual, yet they probably aren't what you'd stereotypically expect when you think of someone in the LGBTQ+ community.

However, as the graph above shows, there are more self-identifying bisexuals than gays and lesbians combined. So why are they so underrepresented?

Well, I believe there are a lot of reasons. Namely, the misconceptions and prejudices I mentioned above. Some bisexuals may feel disenfranchised, especially if they don't fit the dictionary definition of bisexuality and can't meet the standards set for them by others in the community. No one should feel ashamed of who they are. And everyone in the queer community should get the opportunity to be represented, especially since the 'B' in 'LGBTQ+' stands for bisexual. Come on.

I'm not by any means saying the plight of one sexual orientation in the queer community is harder than another, but it's time the entire community stop erasing the validity of bisexuals. I'm sure someone out there who's gay or lesbian has known what it feels like to be put down for who they love, and it probably felt terrible.

So please, after National Coming Out Day, commit yourselves to taking care of and sticking up for each other. all year. As we've seen, the government isn't going to do anyone in the LGBTQ+ community any favors, so it's time to really accept everyone.