Intro to The Rogues' Gallery

By Talia Squires

October 04, 2021

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Photo credit: Unsplash/Trey Gibson

The term Rogues' Gallery came about in the 19th century to describe a police collection of mugshots. Bi.org's Rogues' Gallery came about because we were looking for a space where we could talk about some bi people from history who weren't actually that great or were often terrible.

People we discuss in this column are frequently folks who are famous despite their questionable choices or outright villainous behavior. Why would we want to write about these terrible people? There are a few reasons. One is that we believe that bi erasure is bad. It's easy for us to claim the Frida Kahlos and Oscar Wildes of the past, they are the people that we look up to, are proud of and deserve all the accolades we give along with an acknowledgment of their true sexual orientation. But what about the more questionable people who have had their sexual orientation erased or hidden?  

etching of the Marquis de Sade in profile
One of our first Rogues, the Marquis de Sade

Not all bi people are good, not all monosexual people are evil, and most people have good and bad about them. Over time history has changed how we look at certain figures. People that we once idolized are now reviled and many villains from the past are being reexamined. For the most part history doesn't give us perfect saints or perfect sinners. We are not going to try and tell you who is worth remembering, but are rather working to make sure that people are remembered accurately with all their flaws and graces. The fact of the matter is sexual orientation has no bearing on a person's moral character. Combatting bi erasure isn't just about picking or choosing our favorite bi folks and bragging about them, it's about acknowledging the prevalence of bisexuality throughout history, class, occupation, etc. 

Most bi people living and dead will never have articles written about them. Most of us are just trying our best to get through this world and maybe, if we're lucky, leave one little corner of it better than we found it. Some of us will succeed and some of us will fail and a very few will succeed or fail spectacularly. None of these things make you more or less bi. 

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