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Journal of Bisexuality
ISSN: 1529-9716 (Print) 1529-9724 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjbi20
“We can Shapeshift and Build Bridges”: Bisexual
Women and Gender Diverse People of Color on
Invisibility and Embracing the Borderlands
Monica A. Ghabrial
To cite this article: Monica A. Ghabrial (2019): “We can Shapeshift and Build Bridges”: Bisexual
Women and Gender Diverse People of Color on Invisibility and Embracing the Borderlands, Journal
of Bisexuality, DOI: 10.1080/15299716.2019.1617526
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15299716.2019.1617526
Published online: 04 Jun 2019.
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“We can Shapeshift and Build Bridges”: Bisexual
Women and Gender Diverse People of Color on
Invisibility and Embracing the Borderlands
Monica A. Ghabrial
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT
Bisexual women and gender diverse people of Color
(biWGDPoC) challenge many traditional notions of gender,
sexuality, and race, possessing identity categories that enable
them to blend with different groups and communities.
Although this invisibility grants safety in some contexts, it
may also be a source of stress. The present study involved
thematic analysis of qualitative survey responses from
biWGDPoC, in which participants discussed passing and visibil-
ity. Notable themes included invisibility at the intersections of
sexual, gender, and ethnoracial identity; skin tone and biracial
identity; the exacerbated isolation that results from lack of
heritage language; feelings of identity betrayal when dating
(White) cisgender men; and biWGDPoC-specific challenges.
Novel positive perspectives on identity invisibility also
emerged, in which participants discussed finding privilege in
fluency and using their ability to pass to advocate for others.
Throughout these topics, participants note femininity as a fac-
tor in (in)visibility, as well as notions of falsehood and dimin-
ished self-worth.
KEYWORDS
Bisexual people of Color;
bi-invisibility; heritage
language; interracial dating;
passing; intersectionality
Bisexual women and gender diverse people of Color (biWGDPoC)
1
live with
identity categories that challenge many notions of gender and sexuality, tran-
scending societal dichotomies. Racialized people who are attracted to more
than one gender are seen and unseen, moving between their heterosexual
world, their ethnoracial world, and their queer world, perhaps not fully
belonging to any. For this reason, bisexuality has long been misunderstood
and neglected. Bisexuality, described in the past by some scholars as an
underdeveloped sexuality (Angelides, 2006)–one which people are expected
to outgrow –is judged negatively by many within and outside of the larger
queer and trans
2
(QT) population (Friedman et al., 2014; Yost & Thomas,
2012). Stereotypes associated with bisexuality include promiscuity, indecisive-
ness, attention seeking, and untrustworthiness (Eisner, 2013; Mohr & Israel,
CONTACT Monica A. Ghabrial monica.ghabrial@mail.utoronto.ca Department of Psychology, University of
Toronto, 100 St. George Street, 4
th
Floor, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G3
ß2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
JOURNAL OF BISEXUALITY
https://doi.org/10.1080/15299716.2019.1617526
2004; Morrison, Harrington, & McDermott, 2010). Bisexual women are stig-
matized as greedy and are assumed to eventually choose men over women
(Taylor, 2016), a stereotype that often makes them unwelcome and yet fetish-
ized among monosexual gay and lesbian circles as well as by heterosexual
people (Flanders, Dobinson, & Logie, 2015; Lehavot, Balsam, & Ibrahim-
Wells, 2009). Because bisexuality is ambiguous and imperceptible, some may
view bisexual people as double agents, blending into the queer world at will
while benefiting from the advantages of a heterosexual fac¸ade. Through an
intersectional framework (Crenshaw, 1991), we can address and investigate
the experiences and perspectives of biWGDPoC, by recognizing the influence
of culture and race on sexuality and gender and vice versa; acknowledging
those belonging to this population not simply as bisexual people, nor as
racialized people, nor as women and gender diverse people, but as dynamic
individuals in possession of a unique identity separate from but inclusive of
these many identity categories.
Queer and trans people of Color (QT PoC) are commonly disconnected
from the QT community and their ethnoracial community, feeling other-ed
in every setting (Ghabrial, 2017). For QT PoC, visibility may lead to excessive
stress, as research has found that they report experiencing more discrimin-
ation outside of the QT community than White sexual and gender minority
people (Bostwick, Boyd, Hughes, West, & McCabe, 2014). In regard to dis-
connect from cultural identity, queerness is often perceived to be a White
and Western identity (Alimahomed, 2010), which may lead QT PoC to be
apprehensive about claiming a QT identity, while also causing them to be
invisible to their White counterparts. biWGDPoC face these many stressors,
in addition to the racialization of sexism, heterosexism, binegativity.
Perceptions of bisexual people are in opposition to traditions and rituals often
valued in ethnoracial minority cultures (e.g. monogamy, heterosexual mar-
riage; Garnets & Kimmel, 2003; Brooks, Inman, Malouf, Klinger, &
Kaduvettoor, 2008; Sung, Szymanski, & Henrichs-Beck, 2015), which may be
one reason that many ethnoracial minority people appear to view bisexuality
negatively (Dodge et al., 2016). These conflicts between cultures may impact
the way biWGDPoC develop, experience, and express their identity.
Because sexual orientation is an unseen identity category, bisexual people
often “pass”as heterosexual. “Passing”as a term and a concept is poten-
tially problematic, as it positions the person as deceptive and duplicitous; a
person falsely claiming membership to a socially privileged identity
(Billard, 2018). However, the act of passing, whether deliberate or not, may
allow respite from social stigma and access to resources and safety.
Strategic passing is referred to as stigma concealment, which can protect
queer people from discrimination and violence (Frost, 2011) and has been
reported as a tactic employed by bisexual women (McClelland, Rubin, &
2 M. GHABRIAL
Bauermeister, 2016). Research has shown that awareness of the many nega-
tive stereotypes that are associated with bisexuality may deter identity dis-
closure in this population (Li, Dobinson, Scheim, & Ross, 2013; McLean,
2008). Bisexual people are in the unique position of having the perception
of their sexual orientation largely determined by the gender of their roman-
tic or sexual partner; when dating an other-gender, cisgender-presenting
person, they are seen as heterosexual and when dating a same-gender or
visibly gender minority person they are assumed to be queer. In this way,
they can either “pass”as heterosexual or queer, depending on their behav-
ior. This phenomenon of passing as one identity or another is shared with
some PoC (Glenn & Johnson, 2012), who may pass as one ethnoracial
identity or another. For example, light-skinned PoC have reported accounts
of deliberately passing as White to benefit from the everyday privileges
afforded to White people (Lingel, 2009). Race can further complicate this
issue for QT people. Bisexual women of Color, specifically, may wish to
conceal their sexual orientation to avoid the racialized sexualization of
queer women of Color (Fuller, Chang, & Rubin, 2009). Although stigma
concealment is considered a protective behavior, it may also be damaging
to mental health (Frost, Parsons, & Nan
ın, 2007; Frost, 2011). This creates
a paradox for QT PoC, as they may need to conceal their sexual orientation
to evade discrimination and maintain familial relationships, but by doing
so, may limit their access to support from similar others (Ghabrial, 2017).
In this article, “gender diverse”(GD) is used as an umbrella term to refer
to individuals not identifying strictly with the gender binary (e.g. nonbi-
nary, genderqueer, Two Spirit people). For transgender and GD people,
“passing”in regard to gender is a distinct and complex matter. Passing in
this case may refer to presenting with one’s gender assigned at birth to
avoid discrimination or for some it may mean concealing gender history
(e.g. cis-passing). Qualitative research with transgender and GD people has
shown that stigma concealment of gender history is affirming of their true
gender and may be beneficial to well-being (Rood et al., 2017), and
research has indicated that cis-passing among transgender people is associ-
ated with reduced discrimination experiences in health care (Kattari &
Hasche, 2016). Race, of course, influences experiences of discrimination,
cis-passing, and access to resources. For example, findings from the 2011
National Transgender Discrimination Survey revealed that Black,
Indigenous, and Biracial/Multiracial transgender and GD people were more
likely to have been homeless than their White counterparts, and that cis-
passing reduced this likelihood (Begun & Kattari, 2016).
Identity erasure, which can occur at an interpersonal or institutional level,
is another factor related to passing and visibility. Passing as cisgender, White,
or heterosexual is undesirable for many people, may be emotionally
JOURNAL OF BISEXUALITY 3
triggering, and can create an undesired separation between self and commu-
nity. Monosexual and White people are complicit in this erasure of
biWGDPoC in a variety of ways. QT PoC have reported being excluded by
the larger QT community in terms of political agenda, beauty standards
(Garnets & Kimmel, 2003; Ghabrial, 2017; Han, 2007), dating and romantic
relationships (Callander, Newman, & Holt, 2015), and are even excluded in
QT community agencies with inclusive mandates (Ward, 2008). Due to the
pervasive Whiteness and femmephobia within the QT community (Hoskin,
2019), femme-presenting, racialized, queer women are often assumed to be
heterosexual (Fuller, Chang, & Rubin, 2009). The performance of homonor-
mativity (Duggan, 2004) by lesbian and gay people (especially those who are
White and middle class), may play a large part in institutional erasure of
biWGDPoC. Through reconstructing lesbian and gay existence to comple-
ment heteronormative standards and expectations (e.g. monogamy, marriage,
static binary gender, static monosexuality) and in basing the assertion of civil
rights in the argument that homosexuality is biologically predetermined, cis-
gender lesbian and gay people have been allowed gradual acceptance into
mainstream institutions (e.g. legalized marriage, the military). Meanwhile,
bisexual, transgender, and GD people, whose existence challenges gender and
sexual binarism, remain on the margins, unable to access the same privileges
while facing harsher judgment than gay and lesbian people (Cragun &
Sumerau, 2017; Worthen 2013). For example, qualitative research by
Mathers, Sumerau, and Cragun (2018) revealed that Christian women who
support same-sex marriage between queer, monosexual cisgender people
denied the possibility of bisexual and transgender identity (e.g. “There is no
in between,”p. 942). This erasure is multiplied for bisexual transgender and
GD people. Research with bisexual transgender people suggests that they feel
their bisexual identity is “structurally disallowed”(p. 497), and that they
encounter others who believe that they cannot be transgender and bisexual at
once (Ross, Dobinson, & Eady, 2010). Similar to bisexual people, GD people
challenge assumptions of gender and sexuality, experience high rates of dis-
crimination and poor mental health, and often feel excluded from trans-
gender communities (Austin, 2016; James et al., 2016).
This erasure of biWGDPoC is also found in the QT literature. Data from
bisexual people is commonly pooled with that of gay and lesbian people
(Ross et al., 2018), racial identity is often neglected in analysis (Ghabrial &
Ross, 2018), and issues and research concerning transgender and GD peo-
ple are frequently grouped with those of sexual minority people (Galupo,
Henise, & Mercer, 2016). Even within the now growing bisexuality
research, women and trans PoC remain under-represented (Ghabrial &
Ross, 2018). Commonly in research, gender identity is conflated with sexual
identity, and the actual sexual identities of transgender people are at times
4 M. GHABRIAL
not even reported (Moradi et al., 2016). This is a substantial oversight,
given that transgender people are more likely to identify as bisexual than
their cisgender counterparts (Meyer, Brown, Herman, Reisner, & Bockting,
2017). A content analysis of trans research by Moradi et al. (2016) revealed
that more than 40% of articles did not provide information on race/ethni-
city and the majority involved only binary transgender participants. A con-
tent analysis of research with QT PoC revealed that fewer than 10% of
articles addressed transgender issues (Huang et al., 2010). Common issues
addressed in transgender and bisexual PoC research include psychological
disorders and distress, HIV/AIDS, high risk behavior, and transition proce-
dures (Ghabrial & Ross, 2018; Moradi et al., 2016), which further patholo-
gizes and restricts our understanding of the lived experiences of individuals
who live with these identity categories.
For biWGDPoC, invisibility and concealment may involve a considerable
amount of strategy and negotiation. Although the literature is growing in
regard to identity development among bisexual cisgender women of Color
(e.g. Brooks et al., 2008; Stanley, 2004; Thompson, 2012), there is still
much we do not know about the overarching experience of this identity,
and a great deal unexplored among transgender and GD people. In add-
ition to the complexities and potential negative effects of stigma conceal-
ment and identity erasure for biWGDPoC, identifying with an in-between
identity, and thus belonging (or not belonging) to more than one group,
may be damaging to one’s identity development and sense of self (Lewin,
1948; Tajfel, 1981). Although social connection may mitigate the negative
impact of these stressors for many QT people, bisexual people as a
“sandwich community”may not have access to this resource (Robinson,
2015). This may be one of the reasons that bisexual people appear to have
poorer mental health than heterosexual and queer monosexual people
(Ross et al., 2018) and that bisexual PoC have higher reports of internalized
biphobia (Molina et al., 2015). This article presents narratives on invisibil-
ity, erasure, and passing among biWGDPoC, investigates the complexity of
fluency between worlds and identities, and examines the impact that these
factors may have on well-being.
Methods
Participants
Data were collected as part of a larger mixed-methods study designed to
explore the identities and experiences of QT PoC, using a web-based sur-
vey. Participants were eligible for the larger study if they identified as a sex-
ual minority, identified as an ethnoracial minority or a person of Color
(excluding White cultural/religious minority people), and lived in Canada
JOURNAL OF BISEXUALITY 5
or the United States. Participants included in the analysis for this article
were 348 biWGDPoC. The age range for this subsample was 18 to 62 years
(M¼25.2, SD ¼7.0). See Table 1 for demographics information of this sub-
sample. Biracial-White and multiracial participants were coded separately
in recognition of the possibility that individuals in the former category may
experience different stressors or privileges than those in the latter (e.g.
White-passing, familial racism). Participants were asked to select their sex-
ual orientation label (e.g. asexual, bisexual, queer, pansexual), as well as
select the genders to which they are attracted (e.g. cisgender women, trans-
gender men, nonbinary people, no attraction) in a separate question.
Responses from a participant were included if they selected a plurisexual
label (e.g. bisexual, pansexual, queer) and indicated multigender attraction
(e.g. being attracted to cisgender women and genderqueer people) on the
Table 1. Participant Demographics (N¼348)
Identity Category n(% of N)
Gender
Genderqueer/nonbinary/trans 102 (29.3)
Genderqueer woman 25 (71.8)
Woman 214 (61.5)
Trans woman 5 (1.4)
Two spirit 2 (.6)
Sexual identity
Bisexual 151 (43.4)
Pansexual 60 (17.2)
Queer 135 (38.8)
Two Spirit 2 (.6)
Race/ethnicity
Indigenous/Indian American/Native American 6 (1.7)
Black 46 (13.2)
East Asian 54 (15.5)
Indo-Caribbean 3 (.9)
Latinx 33 (9.5)
Middle Eastern/Southwest Asian 16 (4.6)
Pacific Islander 1 (.3)
South Asian 30 (8.6)
Southeast Asian 18 (5.2)
Biracial 62 (17.8)
Multiracial 78 (22.4)
Afro-Latinx 1 (.3)
Income
<$10,000 40 (11.5)
$10–19,999 42 (12.1)
$20–39,999 67 (19.3)
$40–59,999 43 (12.4)
$60–69,999 20 (5.7)
$80,000 þ59 (17.0)
Don’t know 55 (15.8)
Prefer not to say 22 (6.3)
Education
High school or less 41 (11.8)
Some college 134 (38.5)
College 92 (26.4)
Some graduate school 27 (7.8)
Graduate or professional degree 53 (15.2)
6 M. GHABRIAL
Table 2. Themes, Subthemes, Definitions, and Corresponding Quotes Related to Invisibility
and Passing among Bisexual Women and Gender Diverse People of Color (biWGDPoC)
Themes, subthemes, and definitions
Theme Subtheme Corresponding Quote
Intersections of
(in)visible identities:
A general lack of
belonging; the
(in)visibility of one
identity category
interacts with that
of another
Sometimes I feel invisible in queer spaces, especially those
that tend to be predominantly White. My life
experiences of coming out, connections to my family,
relationship to my ethnic community, and dedication to
my faith seem out of place in these spaces. It is also
sometimes tiring to repeatedly explain to people how
my race and sexuality intersect in my life. I also
sometimes feel invisible when working and living in the
Chinese Canadian community. Many Chinese immigrants
have received very little to no sexual education growing
up, and tend to have rather conservative views
regarding sex, marriage, and relationships. Being open
about my sexuality can be challenging and sometimes
unsafe. –Queer woman, East Asian, age 28, ID 417
White-passing parallels:
Biracial and bisexual
identity categories
interact, resulting in
complex and
compounded
invisibility
I am a bisexual mixed race Jewish Latina. I am light-
skinned, and very feminine presenting …I often pass, in
many circumstances and different contexts, for a white,
straight, Christian woman …Living on all of these
fences, living within these tiny centers at the middle of
Venn diagrams, is a strange place to
inhabit …Sometimes it is really hard. Sometimes you
just want to fit in. –Bisexual woman, Latinx-White, age
41, ID 318
Lack of heritage language
increases invisibility:
Inability to
communicate with the
language associated
with one’s ethnoracial
culture interacts with
in(visibility) and
biWGDPoC identity,
resulting in stress
and isolation
I struggle with being a visible minority that cannot speak
their "native tongue", so I feel as though I cannot fully
embrace my roots and racial group. I sometimes see
events and programs aimed at East Asians and then
reconsider because my experience with these programs
is that I am not East Asian "enough" to relate to other
attendees, but I still feel very "other" in the hobbies and
groups I choose to pursue, which are white-dominated.
–Bisexual nonbinary person, East Asian, age 23, ID 448
Relationships, erasure,
and betrayal:
Romantic
relationships with
cis (White) men
further complicate
and invalidate
racialized queer
identity
among biWGDPoC
I’ve had very few romantic interactions, and am currently
involved with a cishet man, and so claiming to be part
of these (wonderful!) communities can be weird, and I
feel like I’m an impostor. –Queer woman, East Asian,
age 24, ID 471
Invisible biWGDPoC-
specific challenges:
Notable issues
specific to bisexual
PoC that are
neglected by the
QT community
Passing through
parenthood:
Parenthood not only
increases invisibility,
but is an invisible issue
in itself and creates
more distance between
bisexual parents and
resources/community
I’m not just a pansexual black latinx woman. Im also a
disabled mother of disabled children. We don’t fit in
anywhere. My children and I have been excluded from
both communities because we are intersectional. Life
can be lonely but also very stressful because there is a
huge lack of support for families like mine …There is
too much pressure to be "perfect". The threats became
too much for me. Plus, the comments about my having
children , being disabled and "not good enough" …
literally lead to severe social anxiety. –Pansexual
woman, Afro-Latinx, 41, ID 559
Cultural gender-role
expectations:
biWGDPoC work to
I am struggling with owning my queer identity and
marrying into a family where my significant other fully
understands and respects my sexuality, but his family
(continued)
JOURNAL OF BISEXUALITY 7
survey. For more information on the demographics for the entire sample of
the larger study, see Ghabrial & Andersen (in revision).
Recruitment
Participants were primarily recruited through Facebook, by posting in
groups for QT people, ethnoracial minority people, or people identifying as
LGBQAþ(lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, asexual) PoC. The advertisement
(with a blurb and a flyer) was also sent to organizations and listservs for
these populations. The outreach flyer described the study as an
“anonymous online survey that examines LGBQA þracial/ethnic minority
experiences of discrimination, stress, and wellbeing.”Below this description,
the flyer stated that participants must identify as a racial/ethnic minority
(with provided examples), a sexual minority (with provided examples), be
18 years or older, and live in Canada or the U.S. –but that people with any
gender identity are welcome. Participants who completed the survey
and provided their email address at the end were entered into a lottery for
a 1/25 chance of winning a $50 (Canadian value) gift card. This study was
also advertised through the university undergraduate psychology research
pool. Student participants received 1 credit toward their Introductory
Psychology course for completion of this 45-minute survey. This study was
approved by the research ethics board of the University of Toronto.
Table 2. Continued.
Themes, subthemes, and definitions
Theme Subtheme Corresponding Quote
claim and express their
identity within the
context of cultural and
familial expectations,
yet cannot
communicate these
challenges to White
QT people.
does not know about it and would likely reject me if
they knew. –Bisexual woman, Latinx-White, age 22,
ID 582
Embracing the
borderlands: The
ability to derive
empowerment
from a unique
intersection of
(in)visible
identity categories
My people are resilient, joyful, and beautiful. We will never
be white enough to belong to the lgbt movement, we
will never be straight enough to be brown, but we have
each other and we walk through, what Gloria Anzudela
calls ’borderlands’knowing we can shapeshift and build
bridges; that our very existence is revolutionary, and we
have a lot of work to do. I love being both brown and
queer. –Queer woman, Multiracial, age 36, ID 310
Passing bi and building
bridges: Possessing an
in-between and
ambiguous identity
enables some to
advocate for others.
…I see them as beneficial when I’m advocating on racial
justice or LGBTQ issues because I pass in white or
cishetero spaces, and not that I think that people who
straddle multiple identities should have to be
spokespeople or bridge builders, but I think it’smy
responsibility to leverage my privilege. –Queer woman,
East Asian-White, age 27, ID 311
Note. Cis ¼cisgender; cishet/cishetero ¼cisgender and heterosexual; LGBTQ ¼lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer;
PoC ¼People of Color; QT ¼queer and trans.
8 M. GHABRIAL
Measures
Demographics questionnaire
After providing virtual consent on page one of the web-based survey, par-
ticipants completed a demographics questionnaire, asking them about their
age, gender, sexual orientation, gender attraction, race/ethnicity, religious
affiliation, education, income, relationship orientation (e.g. monogamy),
country of birth, and country/ies of parents’birth.
Textbox questions
Within the web-based survey, there was an optional textbox, asking partici-
pants to provide their “thoughts about issues concerning sexual and gender
minority people (LGBTQAI2þ).”In this section, participants were given a
list of optional questions as prompts. Examples of these optional questions
include, “What are your own experiences with these identities and how do
they affect your everyday life?”“What are your feelings on the experiences
of LGBTQAI2þ(lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, asexual, Intersex, Two
Spirit) ethnic/racial minority people?”and “Which issues concerning
LGBTQAI2þethnic/racial minorities are often neglected?”
Data analysis
Text responses for all biWGDPoC participants were extracted from the
data set. These responses were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis
(Braun & Clarke, 2006,2012). Thematic analysis was selected as it enables
the researcher to conduct data-driven analysis and examine specific phe-
nomena in the data set. In this process, the value of a theme or phenom-
enon is not defined necessarily by frequency of appearance in the text
(Braun & Clarke, 2006; Joffe, 2012). Using a constructionist interactionalist
perspective (Charmaz, 2008), I sought to investigate how participants
defined their intersectional identities and described experiences with these
identity categories. My own subjective experience as a queer/plurisexual,
first-generation Egyptian Canadian, cisgender woman informed the design
of the larger study, as well as this analysis process. I thus elected to write
this article using first-person voice. I began by reading each response in a
single document while searching for patterns and novel concepts in regard
to participant experiences with and descriptions of their racialized queer
identity, while making marginal remarks (Miles, Huberman & Saldana,
1994). Here, I observed that participants commonly described their
biWGDPoC identity, experiences, and interpersonal relationships in terms
of their invisibility and fluency (Lingel, 2009). The text containing all
biWGDPoC responses was then imported into NVivo 10.2, where I ana-
lyzed the data thoroughly and inclusively, creating codes that appeared to
JOURNAL OF BISEXUALITY 9
fit under the broad theme of invisibility, as well as those that did not. I
then selected the codes related to invisibility and merged them into over-
arching themes.
Results and discussion
The present study examined narratives from bisexual cisgender and trans-
gender women and gender diverse PoC on experiences with invisibility and
fluency. I use “fluency”in this article to describe the movement of bisexual
people between worlds, communities, and identities with their ability –
desired or not –to pass as monosexual, White, and cisgender (Lingel,
2009). In discussing the unique intersections of their identity categories,
participants commonly discussed not belonging or feeling disconnected
from their identity categories. Participants discussed the way light skin tone
and biracial identity exacerbate invisibility and interact with their bisexual
identity. They noted language as a factor that further invisibilized identity
and complicated interactions between identity categories. Participants dis-
cussed how relationships with cisgender men –especially those who are
White –further erase their identities, and how bisexual-specific problems
are invisible to others. Invisible bisexual problems noted by participants
included parenthood and cultural gender role expectations. Concurrently,
some participants discussed their passing and merging into different identi-
ties in a positive light, allowing them to adapt to different settings, and
enabling them to contribute to the belonging of others. See Table 2 for
themes, subthemes, and corresponding quotes. Participants are described
with the identity labels they selected, and their quotes are presented in this
article, unedited, as they were entered into the online survey.
Intersections of (In)visible Identities
In discussing the interaction between bisexuality, gender, and ethnoracial
identity, participants described a general lack of belonging and disconnec-
tion from their queer identity and their ethnoracial identity, as well as
from those communities. Lack of belonging was often attributed to not
being enough of either identity. The “not gay enough, not white enough”
narrative has appeared in previous research with bisexual women of Color
(Alimahomed, 2010). In previous research, bisexual people have reported a
lack of belonging (Collins, 2000) and feeling as though they were not gay
enough to participate in their QT community while not being straight
enough to fit in elsewhere (Bostwick & Hequembourg, 2014; Gonzalez,
Ramirez, & Galupo, 2017). Transracial adoptees (Goss, Byrd, & Hughey,
2017) and multiracial people have also used similar language, feeling not
10 M. GHABRIAL
racialized enough to claim their ethnoracial identity (Museus, Sarinana,
Yee, & Robinson, 2016). As a biracial, bisexual woman, Participant 22,
expanded this narrative: “not straight enough, not gay enough, or not white
enough, not Chinese enough”(bisexual woman, East Asian-White, age 23).
As a result, participants in the present study reported having to choose
between identities –a challenge that is familiar to bisexual people in gen-
eral, being told by others that they cannot be attracted to more than one
gender (Brooks et al., 2008; Flanders et al., 2015). In a qualitative study
with bisexual women of Color by Flanders et al. (2015), participants stated
that they feel divided and incapable of being whole (Thompson, 2012).
This division and conflict between identities is then exacerbated for partici-
pants in the present study who also identified as a gender minority, having
to choose between bisexual identity, ethnoracial identity, or gender identity
at any given moment, concealing one at a time. Participants explained the
challenges holding many minority identities and being forced to choose to
present or identify with one at a time to avoid harm (e.g. “I honestly don’t
believe that I can be both of these identities at the same time,”bisexual
transgender woman, Black, age 20, ID 274). Participants in the present
study in particular lacked a sense of belonging and discussed how the
invisibility of one identity can lead to the invisibility of the other, as their
narratives on passing as cisgender, straight, and White converged.
Participant 288 said, “I feel that my presentation as an ethnically ambigu-
ous person is not conducive to presenting as a visibly queer person”(Queer
genderqueer person, born Intersex, Multiracial, age 24). Comparing the
barriers that visibility of one identity creates to those inherent in the invisi-
bility of another, one participant said: “The visibility of my racial identity
tends to other me from the circles I want to feel welcome in, and it is the
same with the invisibility of my queer identity”(Bisexual nonbinary person,
East Asian, age 23, ID 448).
White-passing parallels
Skin tone was a common factor discussed in regard to visibility and
many of the White-passing participants identified as biracial. Although
light-skinned participants recognized the privilege and safety afforded to
them by the ability to pass as White and heterosexual, it was most often
discussed as a source of stress or discontent. This perpetual passing
between worlds was described as a stressor, as it impacted how partici-
pants engaged in the QT community. Participant 533 discussed this
while noting that the emphasis put on labels furthers their feelings
of isolation:
JOURNAL OF BISEXUALITY 11
…Being of mixed ethnicity/race I find a lot of people are surprised to find out that
I am something other than “white”. As a self identifying queer person of colour I
often get the reactions/comments that I “look straight”or “look white”and it’s really
something that I have found to be incredibly damaging to my sense of self …There
is far too much judgement, and too much stress out in how a person identifies. It
makes it hard to find your place. (Queer genderqueer person, Multiracial, age 30)
The emphasis that others place on labeling and categorizing identities
may be a source of stress for biracial queer individuals, as they hold mul-
tiple in-between or undefinable identities (Collins, 2000). Racial mislabeling
and invalidation from others have been noted as stressors for biracial peo-
ple in past research, negatively affecting self-esteem and mental health
(Franco, Katz, & O’Brien, 2016; Townsend, Markus, & Bergsieker, 2009).
Family, as a strong influence on identity development and management,
may also contribute to the emphasis on conventional categories and labels.
According to Stanley (2004), “monoracial, heterosexual parents have not
had the same experiences of being biracial or a sexual minority,”and as a
result may not have the ability to properly support their biracial queer
child (p. 164). This describes the dilemma reported by Participant 650,
who said:
I was raised in a very homophobic religion. Being bisexual, I often downplayed my
same gender/non binary attraction in favor of my attraction to cissexual males. I’m
biracial, and both sides of my family are vehemently opposed to anything that breaks
the binary, or defies gender roles. (Bisexual woman, Black-White, age 20)
This participant, already living with one visible binary identity, must cope
with her family’s rejection of identities opposing the binary and, as a result,
the invalidation of her whole self. Previous research has highlighted the paral-
lels between biracial and bisexual identities and investigated identity develop-
ment and experiences of biracial bisexual people, whose identities do not fit
easily within standard dichotomies (Collins, 2000; Dworkin, 2002; King,
2011; Stanley, 2004; Thompson, 2012). A qualitative study by Dworkin
(2002) revealed that biracial bisexual women may more comfortably claim a
bisexual identity because they already manage an outsider identity and have
developed the tools to cope with rejection. Participants in the present study
recognized the parallels between their biracial identity and bisexuality, how-
ever, they did not note this compatibility of their bi-identities.
Lack of heritage language increases invisibility
Language was a notable factor that interacted with the (in)visibility of these
identity categories. Some participants discussed their inability to speak the
language of their ethnoracial culture (i.e. their heritage language) and how
this exacerbates stress and isolation. Participant 448, a bisexual nonbinary,
East Asian person (age 23), reported that not speaking their heritage
12 M. GHABRIAL
language creates a barrier to participation with their ethnic community and
described this in addition to the barriers they already face as a bisexual
nonbinary person in a seemingly heterosexual relationship (see Table 2).
Another participant mentioned that the inability to speak their heritage
language even deters them from interacting with other QT PoC. This par-
ticipant explained why they feel “alienated from other Latinx people”:
…because I was raised to be ashamed of our central American heritage and can
pass for white among non-latinx groups (including other brown/black groups) but
among (queer or not) latinx ppl I am visible but unable to participate culturally and
often am sort of shamed or excluded or just feel really awkward for not being fluent
in Spanish etc. It took me over 30 years to understand the impact of my parent’s
shame and my white family’s racism on the uneasiness of our identities. (Queer
genderqueer woman, Latinx-White, age 37, ID 413)
This biracial participant describes the complexity of their fluency and
visibility, passing as White in non-Latinx spaces and phenotypically fitting
into Latinx spaces, yet still being alienated because of language. Participant
413 connects this thought to the damaging effect that familial racism had
on their overall ethnic identity development. According to De Vries (1990),
the maintenance of heritage language is necessary for ethnic identity main-
tenance. Past research has indeed shown that people who have maintained
their heritage language have a stronger sense of ethnic identity (Oh &
Fuligni, 2010; Phinney, Romero, Nava, & Huang, 2001). Research by Tsuda
(2015) with fourth-generation Japanese American people who do not speak
Japanese has revealed that language can be a contentious topic, and that
participants felt frustration when others assumed, based on their appear-
ance, that they could speak Japanese. Shared language has been noted by
gay Latino men as vehicle for connectedness to their community (Gray,
Mendelsohn, & Omoto, 2015)–one from which participants in the present
study cannot benefit.
Relationships, Erasure, and Betrayal
Dating and relationships also appeared as a factor affecting many partici-
pants in discussions of belonging and visibility, making participants feel
unworthy of their QT identity and of space in the QT community.
Participant 448 described being labeled as straight or gay, depending on
their partner’s gender, explaining how this causes them to “struggle with
identifying as Bisexual”(Bisexual nonbinary person, East Asian, age 23).
Participants racialized their experience by describing how their own racial
identity influences the invisibility caused by their relationship status and
how this interacts with the race and gender of their partner. Participant
471 noted that her relationship with a White, cisgender man is damaging
JOURNAL OF BISEXUALITY 13
to her connection with her identity categories. She exhibits an internalized
binegativity, referring to herself as a traitor and listing monogamy as one
of her offenses. Meanwhile, she extends this depiction onto her racial iden-
tity and connection:
I feel that as an East Asian woman who is currently in a monogamous relationship
with a white cis man, my queerness and racialisation are being questioned because of
my perception of how others may be perceiving me. I feel that I am "betraying" my
queerness by not dating a woman. I feel that I am "betraying" my racialized identity
by dating a white person. (Queer woman, East Asian, age 24, ID 471)
Even participants who were dating and had dated same-gender and GD
people reported feeling undeserving of their queer identity or unsure of
their place in the queer community. Participant 360 (Queer woman, East
Asian, age 24) described her “fears and anxieties”of not appearing “queer
enough”due to dating a queer woman of Color who is “normatively
femme.”She asked herself, “did that make me not gay?”This friction
between femininity and visibility/authenticity among biWGDPoC
echoes similar sentiments reported by participants quoted within this study
(e.g. ID 318), as well as participant reports in previous research
(Alimahomed, 2010).
Participants who were light skinned (or biracial) and dating cisgender
men noted the synergistic effect on invisibility that the color of their skin
has in combination the gender of their partner. Participant 135 discussed
her struggle to possess her many identity categories while dating a cisgen-
der man, and how the lightness of her skin influences her inability to fully
claim her identities and belong:
…It hasn’t helped that I have much lighter skin than my family and so, I’m not
automatically perceived as Latinx or that I’m currently in a relationship with a man
and so I don’t fit easily into the LGBTQ þcommunity. Because of this, I feel like an
impostor …This is a challenge for me since I don’t see a space for myself to exist.
I’m "other" in every community, it seems. (Pansexual woman, Latinx, age 26, ID 135)
There is existing research on bisexual experiences in other-gender, het-
erosexual-appearing relationships, which present mixed findings. There
have been positive reports from bisexual women saying that dating cisgen-
der men enables them to conceal their sexual orientation (Wandrey,
Mosack, & Moore, 2015). In an examination of bisexual community resili-
ence by Gonzalez, Ramirez, and Galupo (2017), participants felt that being
in a heterosexual-presenting relationship does not make a person less
deserving of queer identity. Meanwhile, there are adverse outcomes
reported in the literature as well. In research by Flanders et al. (2015), a
participant reported that she and her boyfriend were made to feel unwel-
come at a Pride event for kissing and appearing heterosexual. In an investi-
gation into the relationship between partner gender and relationship
14 M. GHABRIAL
quality among nonmonosexual women, Morandini, Pinkus, and Dar-
Nimrod (2018) found that women in relationships with men were more
likely to report less outness, less queer community connection, and in turn,
more relationship strain. This is similar to research showing that bisexual
women dating men may be exposed to more binegativity and may be less
out than women in a same-gender relationship (Daly, King, & Yeadon-
Lee, 2018).
There is a scarcity of research regarding feelings of betrayal or loss expe-
rienced by PoC who are dating White people. The research that does touch
on interracial dating between PoC and White people has indicated that
Black women perceive hypothetical relationships with White people to be a
rejection and desertion of one’s culture and community (Childs, 2005).
Biracial women have reported strategic partner selection. For example, in a
study by Khanna & Johnson (2010), a Black-White biracial participant said
that when she was younger, she chose to date Black men with dark skin to
emphasize her blackness. This is the anti-image of experiences reported by
participants in this study whose identities were erased, rather than empha-
sized, by the identity of their partner.
In terms of biWGDPoC dating White people, the existing research shows
that bisexual women of Color are exoticized because of these two identity
categories, and feel that White, male partners do not fully understand them
because they cannot relate to their culture (Brooks et al., 2008). The pre-
sent study suggests that biWGDPoC who are dating White men may have
compounded feelings of turmoil and disconnection from their identity. An
overarching sentiment apparent in each response from participants is a
diminished self-worth that results from their attraction to men. This dis-
connection from identity in addition to identity invisibility and heightened
experiences of binegativity may contribute to a great deal of stress
for biWGDPoC.
Invisible biWGDPoC-Specific Challenges
Participants noted the exclusion and denial of issues pertinent to bisexual
women and GD people –in particular, those of Color. As a result,
biWGDPoC may have to spend more time and energy to access support
and resources that meet their needs, compared to White or monosexual
QT people (e.g. Thompson, 2012). Notable concerns that our participants
experienced included parenthood and cultural gender-role expectations.
Passing through parenthood
Parenthood was discussed as an issue relevant to bisexual people (bisexual
people are more likely to want to be parents than gay and lesbian people;
JOURNAL OF BISEXUALITY 15
Gates, Badgett, Macomber, & Chambers, 2007) that increases identity eras-
ure and is not addressed or valued in the QT PoC community. Participant
174 said: “I feel alone and isolated from my community because I have
children and my relationship is read as heterosexual”(Bisexual genderqueer
woman, Multiracial, age 32). Parenthood among bisexual people is a topic
rarely addressed in research (Lynch, 2013; Ross & Dobinson, 2013).
Bisexual mothers have also reported issues with having their sexual orienta-
tion assumed as heterosexual because they had a child (Tasker & Delvoye,
2015). Pregnant bisexual women in previous research have noted being
invisible in terms of their sexual identity and receive minimal organized
bisexual support from heterosexual and QT communities (Ross, Siegel,
Dobinson, Epstein, & Steele, 2012). Participant responses in the present
study supported past research on this invisibility and isolation. In discus-
sing her issues as a bisexual parent, Participant 510 said:
My challenges has been my community of support surrounding partners and trying
to find my own as a Bi femme cis woman ….Asaparentwhohadachildwithacis
man, I felt many doors closed by the queer community and not supported when
leaving an abusive situation. I find myself attempting to find a new network of
support and it’s hard especially since the father is around (legally). I know I have
internalized the voices of not being queer enough or having been with a man that
creates anxieties when reaching out to queer groups. At the same time, I feel these
anxieties with my hetero coworkers who assume much of me and my attraction.
(Bisexual woman, Multiracial, age 34, ID 510)
This participant described being isolated as a result of having a relation-
ship and child with a cisgender man. This echoes previous research, as well
as comments made by other participants in the present study. In this par-
ticipant’s case, however, the community ostracization continued even when
ending her relationship and at a time when she would have greatly needed
support. Now, even as a femme, bisexual cisgender woman who is bound
only legally to her former male partner, she remains in exile. Having a
child may “out”biWGDPoC as nonmonosexual in the QT community, a
place that has little support for bisexual people and for parents. Participant
510 experienced multiplied isolation within QT and heterosexual commun-
ities, similar to that reported by bisexual mothers in past research (Moss,
2012). However, the compounded stress of being neglected while surviving
and escaping abuse is worth noting, as bisexual women are more likely to
experience sexual violence and intimate partner violence than lesbian and
heterosexual women (Goldberg & Meyer, 2013). This binegativity and lack
of community support for bisexual people may be one reason that bisexual
people appear to be less likely to report experiencing sexual violence than
other nonmonosexual (e.g. pansexual) people (Flanders, Anderson,
Tarasoff, & Robinson, 2019).
16 M. GHABRIAL
Cultural gender-role expectations
Participants who were assigned female at birth (AFAB) reported cultural
gender-role expectations as an additional isolating and invisibilizing factor
to which White and monosexual QT people cannot relate. In particular,
participants discussed marriage and the expectation of marriage.
Participant 582 (bisexual woman, Latinx-White, age 22) disclosed that she
is entering into a marriage with a man whose conservative, Muslim family
can never know her full identity as a queer woman (see Table 2).
Participant 403, a bisexual AFAB person, explained that they feel they can-
not explain to their QT peers the pressure they feel to please their family
by marrying a man. This obligation to their family also influences their
gender identity:
Specifically for South Asians, the idea of honor is big. I can’t do anything to
dishonor the family, to keep me from getting married to an eligible bachelor ….It’s
shitty that I have to pretend to be a perfect daughter for this suitor when I just want
to have a choice. I don’t like telling people about this bc [because] I’m bi, so I’m
afraid people will think that I’m complaining for no reason - I could easily marry a
dude, and one that my parents like. But my parents would prefer a traditional Tamil
dude, which would probably mean that he’s homophobic. However, I think my
gender is closely linked to my race and ethnicity. I feel trans masc sometimes, but
also as AFAB, I feel a duty to carry on my culture. Which is why I identify as non-
binary. (Bisexual nonbinary person, South Asian, age 21, ID 403)
Despite the fact that Participant 403 is contemplating a future that denies
their identity, they suffer in isolation under the assumption that others
would dismiss their dilemma. The belief that their monosexual peers may
think that the participant is, “complaining for no reason,”is indicative of
the limited regard that monosexual people have for bisexuality and may be
evidence of this participant’s own internalized binegativity. This is akin to
the issue that QT PoC generally have, being unable to communicate to
their White QT peers the cultural standards and expectations with which
they live (e.g. Brooks et al., 2008; Yip, 2008), and may be related to a
recently reported link between QT community connection and internalized
binegativity among bisexual PoC (Flanders, Shuler, Desnoyers, & VanKim,
2019 [this issue]). Research with primarily White samples on family percep-
tions of bisexuality generally show negative coming-out experiences and
family attitudes (Scherrer, Kazyak, & Schmitz, 2015; Todd, Oravecz, &
Vejar, 2016), and women have reported encountering judgment from in-
laws (Buxton, 2004). There is minimal research on bisexual PoC coming
out to their racialized in-laws. A queer identity can be very troubling to
religious ideals and traditions, partially due to the fact that marriage is con-
sidered a duty and the singular context for procreation (Yip, 2008). The
inevitability of heterosexual marriage has been noted in previous research
as a part of the cultural script discussed by South Asian women, who
JOURNAL OF BISEXUALITY 17
report that they are raised with the understanding that they will eventually
marry a man (particularly one belonging to their culture; Mehrotra, 2016).
In the present study, Participant 403 appears to be so inured to this script
that they are contemplating the commitment, not just despite their sexual
orientation, but also at the cost of exploring and developing their trans
masculine identity.
Embracing the Borderlands
Participants also discussed the ways in which they create empowered ways
of being and belonging. This involved understanding and managing their
invisibility and duality. Participant 371 (Queer woman, Multiracial, age 31)
said that her identities make her feel as though she can “fit in and out of
communities”as she balances being “both oppressed and privileged”with
the “ambiguity of my ethnoracial background, my sexuality, and my gen-
der.”Biracial bisexual women in the Collins (2000) study evolved from
confusion to resolution in their identity development, using different mech-
anisms, including moving to more inclusive cities or finding similar others.
This narrative is similar to identity affirmations reported in past research,
in which QT PoC embrace their identity as a whole and are empowered by
their unique experiences and social location (Ghabrial, 2017; Singh &
McKleroy, 2011). Responses in this study detailed certain efforts that par-
ticipants made to embrace their fluency and duality internally, resulting in
outward expression and action. Participant 97 described her fluidity and
how she manages invisibility and visibility, taking different roles and forms.
This participant savors her ability to pass in different gender roles, while
also acknowledging her many unique challenges:
…My womanhood is something that I am building from the ground up, so it can hold
the privileged ranks of my racial and sexual identity. Being a black queer woman is
important to me because I face unique difficulties, like my other sisters. Being a femme
woman is also unique. I am tall, slim, and dress weirdly (one aspect of my queer
identity) and I get hit on by men, as young to as old as you can imagine. I don’t look
gay until I open my mouth and talk about pussy. Sometimes I don’t look like a woman
because my head is shaved and I rarely wear earrings. In the airports, I am called ‘sir’
more often than not. I am a chameleon who can blend in if I wanted to (a privilege that
isn’t my doing nor is it something that I can use at will and sometimes) and a snake
who changes many skins. Catch me in a big men’s hoodie and sweatpants or booty
shorts and a tight tee. I am a magical being that vomits rainbows. I am powerful. I
remember that when I’m being catcalled by old men or being misidentified or get weird
looks from people. (Queer woman, Black, age 23, ID 97)
In this text, Participant 97 identifies her sexual and racial identity as
being fully developed and established. She notes her femme identity –with-
out the defeated voice used by many other participants –while discussing
18 M. GHABRIAL
her awareness of how others perceive her body. Even her description of
herself appears fluid. This participant explains that she exercises her queer
identity expression through her clothing, but then says that her sexual
identity is imperceptible. It is at this point, that she shifts her description
of herself again to say that she sometimes is not perceived as a woman.
Notably, Participant 97 likens herself to a snake –a comparison that most
would consider derogatory for bisexual people who are often perceived as
duplicitous. However, she relishes the ability to change her exterior and
takes pleasure in her fluency.
The affirming tone with which these participants speak of their ability
to move between identities and communities is similar to narratives
from research with a primarily White sample of bisexual people, stating
that they enjoy that their bisexual identity enables them to abandon
labels and express their gender more freely (Rostosky, Riggle, Pascale-
Hague, & McCants, 2010). Participants in a study by Rostosky et al.
(2010) felt liberated by their bisexual identity, which gave them greater
self-awareness, and one biracial bisexual participant noted that their
identity intersections had given them a unique perspective. This is cer-
tainly true for Participant 97 who exhibits distinct self-awareness and
agency. The idea that a racialized bisexual experience may provide a
unique perspective was shared by Participant 504, who spoke of her
passing in a positive light, saying that a life of code switching (Cross,
2012;Frost,2011) has enabled her to connect with others and detach
from the concept of identity:
Being bisexual and an Indian American has given me a unique perspective on
multiple identities and the ability to adapt between both of them. I also think they
have many parallels. For example, I am often code-switching between gay and
straight spaces, and between Indian and American spaces. I think that this has been
a challenge for me while growing up and in the recent past, but ultimately gives me
a greater ability to empathize with minorities and has led me to challenge the idea of
identity altogether and think about the ways that identity politics and hierarchies can
be disrupted. (Bisexual woman, Indian American, age 24, ID 504)
Passing bi and building bridges
A few participants saw their empathy and ability to move between com-
munities as tools to create belonging for similar others. In these cases, they
acknowledged how their ability to pass as White, cisgender, or heterosexual
makes them effective advocates for social justice. Participant 671, a pansex-
ual trans person (South Asian-White, age 22), said, “I do have white pass-
ing privilege and I am trying to navigate how I can advocate/support folks
who don’t experience these privileges.”Participant 85 detailed their experi-
ences of identity concealment and visibility:
JOURNAL OF BISEXUALITY 19
…People will accept that you’re another race as long as you act within the confines
of their culture (ex: acting ’white’aka well-mannered/polite within the workplace).
However, I am and probably will always be, in the closet regarding my gender
identity. I do not think that people are mentally capable of handling the idea of a
non-binary gender …. Even some binary trans people do not understand non-binary
genders and feel it hinders their success in society. Although it is excruciating at
times, I am fine staying in the closet and pretending to be an ’ally’so that other cis-
gender people will take my opinions into better consideration/more favorably on the
subject of trans people. I think it is easier to help raise up the unfortunate from a
place of privilege, and have generally been successful talking to cisgender/straight
people on trans/lgb þissues because they believe if another ’supposed’cis person
understands, then they can too …I’m not coming out of the closet any time soon
due to fear of backlash and losing all of my close relationships, so I am fine putting
the rights of others in front of my own. I can be invisible. Out trans people, and out
lgb þcannot …It makes me sad, but I would rather fight dysphoria all day every day
than be the reason that another trans person gets murdered. (Pansexual nonbinary
person, Latinx-White, age 26, ID 85)
This biracial participant begins with a plain statement on the necessity of
code switching but then provides a complex account of their experience as
a“closeted”person. Throughout this text, they explain the concealment of
their sexual and gender identity, with reasons that include discrimination
and the rejection of nonbinary people, as well as a desire to advocate for
sexual minority and binary transgender people. It is evident that though
Participant 85 despairs over a concealed identity, they recognize the power
of their fluency and have transformed their unfortunate position into a
mechanism for advocacy. This desire to create positive change with a
unique bisexual and nonbinary perspective is similar to reports from a
study with mostly White bisexual people, in which participants also noted
using their heterosexual passing privilege to build relationships and educate
others (Rostosky et al., 2010). In a study on passing of sexual minority peo-
ple by Fuller, Chang, and Rubin (2009), participants listed positive aspects
of passing, which included avoiding discrimination and sexualization,
maintaining privacy, enjoying privilege of the social majority, and being
accepted by friends and family. Although participants in the present study
did list some of these benefits, the most notable benefits included embrac-
ing a fluent identity and championing the causes of their QT community.
Limitations
This study presents novel findings based on responses provided by a large
sample that was diverse in terms of gender, sexual, and ethnoracial identity;
however, there were some limitations. First, the format of the questionnaire
limited the depth of responses that I could acquire from participants, as I
was unable to ask for clarity and elaboration. This survey was mainly
20 M. GHABRIAL
available to people already belonging to social networking groups for QT
people and PoC. Individuals belonging to such groups may have access to
more social support, affirmations, and the language to describe their identi-
ties and experiences. Thus, there may be individuals who are not out or
who are isolated whose narratives are not included in this article. This
study was limited in terms of responses received from participants explicitly
identifying as transgender women. Transgender people –especially women
of Color –experience a tremendous amount of discrimination and violence
(e.g. Reisner, Bailey, & Sevelius, 2014), and transgender women are at espe-
cially high risk of poor mental health and receive less social support than
transgender men (Claes et al., 2015). For this reason, visibility is a highly
relevant factor for these women and support for this population should be
further explored. This study also lacked proper representation of Two
Spirit people, who are especially marginalized and misunderstood within
and outside of the QT community (e.g. Mul
e & Smith, 2014). Despite the
fact that Two Spirit people are sometimes grouped with bisexual people in
research, they face many unique stressors and more research is needed that
explores the voices and experiences of this population (Robinson, 2017).
Conclusions
The present study is one of few to present narratives of bisexual cisgender
and transgender women and gender diverse PoC. Findings reveal new per-
spectives on many factors that impact self-worth and visibility for
biWGDPoC. Lack of heritage language may have notable impact on the well-
being of QT PoC and an effect on invisibility and social support among bisex-
ual PoC. Like bisexual people, nonbinary people, and biracial people,
children of immigrants possess an in-between identity, bridging one culture
and country with another. It rests on their shoulders to mediate between the
two, assimilate their parents, and help their families navigate a new language
and culture (Piedra & Engstrom, 2009). Some QT PoC may already feel insuf-
ficient in this endeavor, by rejecting their cultural traditions and expectations
through their own sexual and gender identification. For biWGDPoC who
may already feel disconnected from their cultural identity and the QT com-
munity, the absence of heritage language could be quite damaging. Access to
connection with language through education may be empowering for
biWGDPoC and future research is needed which explores the influence of
language on identity adjustment and access to social support.
This article reveals relationships with White cisgender men as a potential
source of stress, invisibility, and self-invalidation among biWGDPoC. The
matter of bisexual PoC dating White other-gender people is largely unex-
plored. Based on findings from this study, these relationships appear to
JOURNAL OF BISEXUALITY 21
cause further doubt in queer and ethnoracial identity, and feelings of isola-
tion and duplicity for biWGDPoC. In regard to bisexual women dating
men, Dyar, Feinstein, and London (2014) report that bisexual women in
other-gender relationships appear to have higher levels of depression and
more instances of rejection from gay and lesbian people than women in
same-sex relationships. Findings from research by Dyar et al. (2014) also
show that additional sources of stress for women in different-sex relation-
ships include being fetishized by their male partners and having to conform
to traditional gender roles. Biracial bisexual women have similarly reported
that they struggle with conforming to traditional gender roles when dating
men from their own racial group (Brooks et al., 2008). Another issue
emerging from this study that is unique to biWGDPoC is the expectation
from family to marry within ethnoracial culture while being unable to com-
municate this stress to White and monosexual people. Overall, this study
reveals that the matter of romantic and sexual relationships among
biWGDPoC, in regard to gender, race, and sexuality, is complex and may
have a strong influence on stress and well-being in this population. More
research is thus needed to explore how bisexual PoC describe these rela-
tionships and cope with feelings of betrayal and conflict.
This study presents unique positive perspectives on invisibility among
biWGDPoC. According to Collins (2000), biracial bisexual people, in
response to rejection and confusion, create their own sense of self, wherein
they enjoy their different identity categories and make a harmonized whole.
This is similar to the concept of positive intersectionality discussed by
Ghabrial (2017), in which queer PoC derive empowerment from the inter-
section of their sexual and ethnoracial identity categories, and is in line
with results from the present study, in which participants managed and
celebrated their fluency. Some participants utilized their invisibility as a
tool for advocacy. Although stigma concealment appears to be psychologic-
ally damaging for QT people (Frost, 2011), it is possible that reframing the
act of stigma concealment as a means for QT activism may mitigate the
harmful impact on mental health. The present findings may thus contribute
to the strengths-based literature for this population.
Although participants provided responses that reflected positive attitudes
toward their identity invisibility, fluency, and social positioning, there were
many more that indicated stress. Throughout the themes in this article,
there were some common overarching concepts: not being “enough”, feel-
ing like an imposter, and the incompatibility between femininity, visibility,
and biWGDPoC identity. Future research should investigate the positive
passing narrative presented in this article, as it may be protective for indi-
viduals who lack belonging, heritage language, and feelings of self-worth.
As visibility may lead to belonging, which may in turn lead to positive self-
22 M. GHABRIAL
image (Lewin, 1948; Tajfel, 1981), research and community work is needed
to create bivisibility and to highlight and tend to bisexual-specific issues,
such as domestic violence, other-gender romantic relationships, parent-
hood, and cultural gender-role expectations.
Notes on contributors
Monica A. Ghabrial is a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto. Her research uses
a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to examine stress and resilience, as
well as the factors that moderate the relationship between trauma and physical health
among sexual and gender minority people of Color.
Notes
1. The terms “women”and “gender diverse”are used in this article to describe women
(cisgender and transgender) and individuals not identifying exclusively with the
gender binary (e.g., nonbinary people), respectively. Although “trans”is often used as
an umbrella term to address the gender diverse population, I was concerned that the
use of this term in juxtaposition with “women,”may have led readers to erroneously
perceive a division between cisgender and transgender women, wherein cisgender
women are considered “women”and transgender women are misplaced in the “trans”
category. See Mosley, Gonzalez, Abreu, & Kaivan (2019 [this issue]) for a similar
discussion of language.
2. When “trans”is used, rather than “transgender,”it is meant to describe all gender
minority people (e.g., binary transgender, gender diverse, and genderqueer people).
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