On Sept. 18, EIU Pride hosted its weekly Monday meeting to celebrate Bisexual Awareness Week. The meeting was held in the Arcola/ Tuscola room on the third floor of the Union building from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Bisexual Awareness Week is Sept. 16-23. It was created to extend Bisexuality Day, which is on Sept. 23. The meeting ended up having a good turnout, which made the activity even more exciting! 

The Pride meeting started by going over essential dates and engaging in LGBTQIA+ history along with Bi-visibility facts and cultural information.

Lucy Ade, the president of Pride, announced that everyone could join a Kahoot link to strengthen their knowledge surrounding bisexuality. The first round of the Kahoot game incorporated bisexual culture, bisexual trivia and just fun facts about the bisexual community.  

After answering the 23 questions on the Kahoot, the people attending the meeting were asked if they had learned something new about the bisexual community. To which, everyone replied with an assertive yes.

Lauryn VanDyke, a freshman studying early childhood education, explained why Bi-visibility is so important. “Bisexual people get a lot of hate from both inside and outside the LGBTQIA+ community, and some people even claim it is not a real sexuality when it very much is.”  

Many might not realize how many bisexual people are blotted from their community. Bisexual people are often a forgotten part of the community. People also put negative stereotypes around bisexual people.

Most bisexual people face being told that they are not loyal to the LGBTQIA+ when they date someone of the opposite sex. Then, when they date someone that is the same sex of them, they could face negative remarks like getting told that they are just gay.

Bisexual people may also be told that they are just going through a phase and that they will soon get out of it. These careless claims form the reason why bi-visibility is so important for both members and non-members of the LGBTQIA+ community.  

The group ended up playing three more rounds of Kahoot, which involved the group with important or valuable facts surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community. Each game had roughly 20 questions and allowed learning opportunities during the meeting.

The second round consisted of general LGBTQ Trivia. The third round tested the knowledge of the history of the LGBTQIA+ community. Lastly, the fourth round consisted of random trivia that “everyone should know,” said Ade.  

EIU Pride is also putting together a book display with the theme of “Queer Joy.” People who have been attending the meeting were able to submit book ideas for the display through a Google form. The books will be displayed in Booth Library soon!

The next Pride meeting will be held on Sept. 25 in the same room in the Union. The meeting will start at 7 p.m., and the board members want to tell people to bring paint-clothes because of the new activity they are hosting at the meeting. People attending the meeting will be able to paint their own pride flag!

Jacob Adcock can be reached at 581-2812 or at jadcock@eiu.edu.