The Pride Parade this weekend will be Barry Karlenzig’s first as president of Pride Winnipeg – and likely the first for the organization.
Karlenzig was appointed president after the Pride Parade in Winnipeg in 2019, the last year when the big event took place due to the pandemic.
In preparation for his return in 2022, Karlenzig discovers through internal records that, at least on paper, he appears to be the first incumbent president of Pride Winnipeg to represent the “B” in the acronym 2SLGBTQ (bisexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender). and queer).
“It surprised me because there are so many bisexually identified people in Canada,” he said.
“Then part of it was – and still is – is it true?” Is there anyone who, perhaps because he was president in the 1990s, decided to identify as gay because being bisexual is still a mistake? ”
Pride Winnipeg celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. Karlenzig has been involved in one way or another over the last decade.
Karlenzig posed with the bisexual flag at The Forks on the Friday before a busy weekend, including the Pride Pride in Winnipeg on Sunday. (Bryce Hoy / CBC)
As gender awareness and sexual identity develop, some may expect a wider acceptance of people who exist beyond binary lines, including non-binary, bi-spiritual or bisexual identities, he said.
But that’s not necessarily the case, Karlenzig said – he still faces biphobia, including in the queer community.
“I still have people who come to me and say, ‘Hey, why can’t you pick a country?'” He said.
The question was once asked by a delegate attending an international conference on queer organizers, Karlenzig said.
“If that happens in 2022, go back to 1996, 1997, when Pride [Winnipeg] became an established person …. Maybe there were more… people from the organization who identified themselves as bi, pan or skirt, or non-gender, and unfortunately at the time you were this or that. “
The Canadian Community Health Survey estimates that by 2018, there are 900,000 gays, lesbians and bisexuals in the country, approximately 3.3% of the population. Slightly more (1.8% vs. 1.5%) were identified as bisexual than as gay or lesbian.
Women are twice as likely to identify as bisexual than lesbians or gays, while strange men are nearly 50 percent more likely to identify as gay than bisexual.
Rusty Suleymanov is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba, researching the problems of 2SLGBTQ. (Submitted by Rusty Suleymanov)
Young people are also more likely to identify as bisexual: 36.2% of bisexual respondents are in the 15-24 age group; 13.7% of heterosexual people are in this age group.
Although bisexuals appear to be on the rise, they are less likely to be “out” with those closest to them, the study found.
“We know that bisexual individuals are much more likely to hide their identities,” said Rusty Suleymanov, an assistant professor at the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba.
“Clear categories like ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ are nice to us, nice to society, so once you bring in something more complex like bisexuality, society rejects it, and I think that’s at the heart of it.” “
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An analysis by Pew Research in the United States in 2019 suggests that bisexual people were one-fifth of the most important people in their lives, compared to three-quarters of gay and lesbian respondents.
Suleymanov said bisexual and pansexual people face unique social and generational pressures to conform to a monosexual identity – a one-sex drive.
Winnipeg artist James Culton painted a rainbow trail at The Forks on Friday. (Bryce Hoy / CBC)
“We see this kind of double erasure a lot,” said Suleymanov, director of the Village Lab’s health research laboratory at U of M.
“Erasure is the problematic rejection by some people of the existence of bisexuality, so we sometimes hear, ‘Oh, are you really bisexual?’ I assure you [you’re] just gay or lesbian. “
This deletion affects the health of the community. People with bi have less access to services tailored to their unique sexual health, social and educational needs, Suleymanov said.
One study found that bisexual women and men reported a six- to seven-fold higher chance of suicidal thoughts in their lifetimes, respectively, than heterosexuals.
Suleimanov’s research shows that there is a need for more informed policies, culturally sensitive resources, training for the inclusion of health care providers and larger destigmatization campaigns.
“Sexual identities are really not static. They are more flexible and this social space also changes over time, “Suleymanov said.
“It’s so beautiful in the bisexuality category. It really destabilizes … our notions of monosexuality, our notions of homosexuality … It’s important to recognize that people can be at different intersections.”
Barry Karlenzig, right, and his partner Emery Wilson are engaged. (Bryce Hoy / CBC)
Karlenzig is proud to be perhaps the first president of Pride Winnipeg.
He also feels a responsibility to advocate for trance, non-binary and black, local and other colorful strange people.
“I am a cis[gender] a white bisexual man, yes, it is still not equal, but it is much better than many of our BIPOC community and many of our local communities, ”he said.
“It is up to me to take this privilege and this authority … to help build the rest of the redundancy.”
The Progres Pride flag adds a chevron to the traditional rainbow design, which includes black and brown stripes that represent colored people, while light blue and pink stripes represent trance and non-binary people. (Jane Robertson / CBC)
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