In the Netflix original series House of Cards, Kevin Spacey's character Frank Underwood is described as a lot of different things. Warm and caring by those who don't know him well at all, ruthless and calculating to those who do, a murderer by people who know the truth. One thing that Frank Underwood is that no one in the show ever describes him as? Bisexual.
A bisexual person is someone who can experience attraction, romantic and/or sexual, to people of their own gender and of other genders. Bisexual erasure is the name given to the denial or ignoring of bisexuality as a legitimate sexuality; examples of bisexual erasure include labeling bisexuality as “a phase,” “confusion,” or “greediness,” or referring to a partnered bisexual person as “gay/straight now” or “formerly gay/straight” depending on the gender of their current partner. Bisexual erasure is perpetuated by a lack of representation of bisexual characters in the media, and that's precisely why I feel it's important for TV shows and movies to claim their bisexual characters as such.
I began season 4 of House of Cards the same way I've begun every season of House of Cards since the first one (and the same way I've begun every season of Orange is the New Black, incidentally): with fingers crossed, hoping and wishing that the word “bisexual” would pass someone's lips in regards to Frank, or even mentioning his sexuality in any tangible way. As always, I was disappointed—in fact, Frank's sexuality is referenced less in this season than ever before.
For thirty-some years, Frank has been married to a woman, Claire. Their marriage is not strictly monogamous—they have an agreement that they can sleep with other people as long as it's for political gain, and Frank has a brief sexual relationship with female journalist Zoe Barnes in season 1. He had a relationship with a man, Tim Corbet, in college, upon which they reminisce together in Chapter 8, season 1. In Chapter 24, season 2, Frank and Claire have an implied threesome (or as a good friend of mine calls it, a Threechum) with secret service agent Edward Meechum. Throughout the entire series, Frank's relationship with Meechum is dripping with sexual tension—almost every interaction they have is filled with long pauses and gentle touches, and Meechum becomes visibly jealous over Frank's similarly charged relationship with author Tom Yates in season 3. Meechum loves Frank so much that he literally takes a bullet for him in the climactic Chapter 43, season 4. We know that Claire is aware of Frank's sexuality when, in season 4, she nonchalantly asks him if he had feelings for Tom and he replies that he briefly did.
Because it is never really addressed, Frank's engagement in romantic and sexual relationships with men and women can come off as “experimentation,” or that he's “secretly gay” despite his marriage to a woman. The idea that bisexuality is a phase that happens in college is harmful to bisexuals of all ages, as it encourages others to not take their sexuality seriously. All of these conclusions, which can easily be drawn by viewers who don't know much about bisexuality, are forms of bisexual erasure. I think the show is doing itself a disservice by not dispelling them by explicitly referring to Frank as bisexual. Bisexual erasure doesn't just disappoint bisexual viewers—it contributes to the fact that bisexuals are more likely to experience depression and anxiety at higher rates than straight people, gays and lesbians, and that bisexual women are more vulnerable to intimate partner violence than straight or lesbian women. When bisexual identities are rejected or denied by the media, they're rejected in real life, harming bisexual people.
Beau Willimon, the creator of House of Cards, commented on the nature of Frank's sexuality in a Huffington Post article after the release of season 3 in March 2015. When asked if Frank is bisexual or gay, he responded “I don’t think Frank Underwood really puts much stock in those sort of labels. As he says in the Sentinel episode [in Season 1], ‘When I’m attracted to someone, I’m attracted to them. Period.’” Choosing not to label one's sexuality is a completely legitimate choice. Because Frank is a fictional character in a TV show viewed by millions of people, I think it would be a meaningful move on the part of the creators of the show to explicitly refer to Frank's sexuality, be it queer, bisexual, or pansexual.
There is the issue of the depraved bisexual trope–if Frank self identifies as bi, does that make him an extension of the evil bisexual trope? I would argue no, because although Frank is a murderer and generally not a nice person, he's very complex. His conscience may be warped, but he does have one; he is protective of the things and people he cares about, and his romantic connections with Claire, Tim, Meechum, and Tom feel genuine. Although his relationship with Zoe was purely for political gain, Frank gains nothing (except maybe pleasure) from his bond with Meechum, who is dedicated enough to his job to protect the President's life whether they're sleeping together or not.
Even though Frank is not a very good person, I think that for him to claim his queerness would be good representation for bisexuals on TV, which is seeing more and more openly gay characters but for some reason not openly bisexual ones. The truth is that anyone can be bi--good people can be bi, bad people can be bi. Monogamous people can be bi, polyamorous people can be bi. The President of the United States can be bi. The creators of House of Cards just have to say so.
