Ain't no lie, baby, bi bi bi

I spend a fair amount of time on the internet -- this should surprise no one. In the past several days, an idea has been circulating that bisexual people are transphobic because "bi" means "two." This isn't the first time part of the LGBTQIA+ community has invalidated another part of the community; this wave was started by some alt right trolls, but it wouldn't have worked if biphobic sentiment were not already so prevalent. It's taken me a few days to get past my anger to a place where I can explain why this is so harmful.

First: attraction to two genders does not imply the existence of only two genders. For example, one bisexual person can be attracted to women and nonbinary people, and another bisexual person can be attracted to men and nonbinary people, and a third bisexual person can be attracted to women and men. This brings up another point: you don't have to be attracted to nonbinary people to acknowledge our existence. You just need to treat us with the same respect that you would give to people with binary genders.

Ignoring the above, what are some fundamental differences between bisexuality and pansexuality? A lot of pansexual people describe their sexuality as attraction regardless of gender, whereas bisexual people often experience attraction to two or more genders, or attraction to their own and other genders.

What is the binary? As traditionally defined, "adjective: binary. relating to, composed of, or involving two things; noun: binary, plural noun: binaries. something having two parts." Most people parse this definition as "there are only two parts,", but nowhere is it stated that there are only two parts or two things from which the binary is chosen, and herein lies the confusion.

For example: the binary number system consists of the digits 0 and 1. Nowhere in the definition of this system is it explicitly stated that the other eight digits don't exist, or that they mean less than the digits 0 and 1. Similarly, people who choose to define bisexuality as attraction to men and women are not necessarily denying the existence of nonbinary people; they're just not including them in their personal definition.

Even if "bisexual" means "attracted to men and women" (which it doesn't always), it's not transphobic, because trans women are women and trans men are men. Implying that everyone who identifies as bisexual is transphobic is implying that trans women are a separate gender from cis women and that trans men are a separate gender from cis men, both of which are false.

To look at this from a different perspective, the word "bisexual" was coined to pathologize attraction to multiple genders. In reclaiming it, we take back the power to define what it means. If you are not bisexual, you do not get to tell us what our identity is. Full stop.