For Bi+ Visibility Day, grab your drink of choice and pull up a chair to a virtual ‘You Can’t Ask That!’, hosted by the Ally@UNSW Network!

In a casual style Q&A, members from UNSW's bi+ community will answer a range of questions (submitted by audience members) to uncover truths, dispel myths and understand the experiences of bi-invisibility, erasure and phobia.

The aim of the event is to celebrate, raise awareness and better support multi-gender-attracted folk, including pansexual, polysexual, omnisexual, biromantic, queer and questioning community, but also to be an educational event.

Date: Thursday 23 September 2021

Time: 5pm to 6pm

NB: Questions can be submitted by audience members beforehand for consideration (the questions are not guaranteed to be asked during the event).

PANELLISTS

Katia Fenton (they/them), UNSW Student, Bachelor of Advanced Science
I am a first year science student who is a newbee to the LGBTQIA+ community and also being out myself. I am a non-binary bisexual person who has no clue what I am doing half the time when it comes to the queer community like many others but I am always happy to learn more and teach others. I also really enjoy adventurous activities like hiking, caving and abseiling and I love to stress bake, especially during exam season.

Serena Knight (she/her), UNSW Student, Bachelor of Commerce

Growing up in Japan, while attending international school, there was a clear difference between my culture and society’s attitude towards non-heteronormativity, and my community’s attitude. I felt a real difference between the person I could be within school, and outside in the street. Hopefully, I can provide a bit of insight as to how I balanced those feelings and the importance of belonging for a sense of security.

Andrew Arena, PhD (he/him), Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Black Dog Institute

I’m a mental health researcher working at the Black Dog Institute, with a background in existential and personality psychology. I’m a cis-gendered man who identifies as bisexual, and I’m attracted to people of any gender. When I came out 7 years ago, I was surprised by many of the reactions I received, and the common confusion about bisexuality both within and outside of the LGBTIQ+ community. I’m very open when it comes to answering questions about my sexuality, but still find myself facing questions that are misled or unintentionally invalidating.

Lucy Dobson (she/her), Administrative Assistant, Faculty of Science
I’m a White cis-woman living & working on unceded Gadigal land. My sexuality has always been fluid however attempting to label this fluidity has been complicated. Adopting a label for my sexuality has been a reactive process, negotiating and renegotiating this label in response to myself, my queer community and society. Current Bi+ dilemmas include, how to be seen as a bisexual when you’re dating a cis man and appear “straight”?

MODERATOR

Leonardo Shaw-Voysey (they/them), UNSW Student, Bachelor of City Planning

Leonardo Shaw-Voysey is a Bisexual & Non-Binary, 4th-year, Bachelor of City Planning (Hons.) student, and 2021 SRC Queer Officer. Leo has long been involved in student representation and queer advocacy on and off-campus, being an Arc Board Director from 2019 to 2021 and a former peer educator in youth sexual and mental health.

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