WITH THE PRIDE IN LONDON PARADE INCLUDING ITS FIRSTEVER BI PRIDE FLOAT, DANIELLE MUSTARDE SPEAKS TO THE PEOPLE WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE

BI PRIDE

Volunteer Karen Pollock at Durham Pride 2018 and Janelle Monáe’s bisexual lighting

As someone who has only recently come to feel comfortable and – dare I say it – proud of my bisexuality, it was with both joy (and shock) that I learned 2018 will be the first time Pride In London has ever had an official bi+ Pride float in parade in the (almost) 50 years since the first event in the capital.

When I was a teenager, I didn’t go to Pride events. This was because a) I lived in the middle of nowhere, and b) with a long-term boyfriend in tow, I often dismissed my attraction to other women, assuming that, because of said boyfriend, I must be your standardissue heterosexual like everyone else. After all, saying you were bi at school or college in the 00s was just a trendy thing that kids who “wanted to be different” did, amiright? Sound familiar, trans and non-binary friends?

My first Pride event was in my early 20s. It was Newcastle Pride. It was hot.

I got a massage from someone in elephant print trousers in a tie-dye tent, and the Cheeky Girls were headlining. This was the real deal. Still, even though I had a girlfriend at the time, I didn’t feel all that at home at Pride. That may have been down to the not-sodulcet tones of the Cheeky Girls, but more likely, it was because I couldn’t see “my people”. Where were the bi flags? Where were the bi+ groups? And, most crucially of all, where was Janelle Monáe?