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Bisexual Visibility Day: Being Seen Means Being Seen Accurately
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
23 September 2026
AAMHP says visibility must include challenging bisexual erasure, assumptions and stereotypes
The Australian Association of Mental Health Practitioners (AAMHP) is marking Bisexual Visibility Day by calling for greater understanding of the experiences of bisexual and bi+ people including the persistent tendency for bisexual identities to be questioned, minimised or made invisible.
Observed each year on 23 September, Bisexual Visibility Day celebrates bisexual and multi-gender-attracted people while drawing attention to the particular stereotypes and forms of discrimination they can experience.
Australian research has found that bisexual people experience distinct mental-health pressures associated with biphobia, identity concealment and bisexual erasure, including assumptions that a bisexual person in a different-gender relationship is heterosexual or that someone in a same-gender relationship is gay or lesbian. Research has also identified experiences of exclusion from both heterosexual and LGBTQIA+ communities.
AAMHP Chair and LGBTQIA+ community leader Shane Warren said the language used around bisexuality matters because language can either recognise a person’s identity or quietly erase it.
“One of the peculiar things about bisexuality is how readily other people assume they can determine someone’s sexuality simply by looking at the person they happen to love or be partnered with today. A relationship does not cancel an identity. A bisexual person does not become heterosexual in one relationship and gay in another.” [Shane Warren]
Shane Warren said bisexual visibility also requires challenging the persistent idea that bisexuality is temporary, confused or somehow less legitimate than other sexual orientations.
“Visibility is not about demanding that people continually explain or prove who they are. It is about creating a culture in which they are believed when they tell us. The language of ‘phase’, ‘experimenting’, ‘really gay’ or ‘actually straight’ may sound casual, but repeated over time it communicates something quite profound: we do not recognise your account of your own life as valid.” [Shane Warren]
Research from La Trobe University’s Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society has consistently highlighted the relationship between bisexual erasure, discrimination and poorer mental-health outcomes. Its Who I Am study involved more than 2,600 bisexual Australians and found high levels of psychological distress, with participants reporting pressure to present as heterosexual in some environments and gay or lesbian in others.
More recent Australian research has also emphasised the protective importance of social connection, acceptance and affirming relationships. Support from families, friends, partners and LGBTQIA+ communities can reduce isolation and strengthen confidence and identity affirmation among bi+ people.
For mental-health practitioners, AAMHP says the message is practical: do not infer sexual orientation from a client’s partner, relationship history, gender presentation or family structure.
Shane Warren said genuinely inclusive practice begins with curiosity rather than assumption.
“Sometimes inclusion is remarkably uncomplicated. Ask rather than presume. Use the language the person uses for themselves. Do not make them defend their identity before you are prepared to respect it. Those small acts tell a client whether the consulting room is somewhere they can bring their whole story.” [Shane Warren]
On Bisexual Visibility Day, AAMHP recognises the diversity, resilience and contribution of bisexual and bi+ communities and encourages practitioners, services and communities to move beyond symbolic visibility towards genuine recognition and inclusion.
Being visible is not merely being noticed. It is being allowed to be seen as you actually are.
Media Contact:
Shane Warren, Chair
Susan Sandy, Secretary
Philip Armstrong, CEO
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