Bisexual Action Manchester
Bisexual Action Manchester was a local campaigning group in Manchester in the late 1990s.
It sought to address particular issues affecting bisexual people in the city, including Manchester City Council's stance that bisexuality did not exist, and the “no bisexuals” door policies of several gay and lesbian venues in the city’s ‘gay village’ around Canal Street and Bloom Street.
The group was set up as a spin-off from BiPhoria. The brand name continued as Bisexual Action.
Contents
Manchester City Council and Bisexuality
Bisexual Action Manchester challenged Manchester City Council repeatedly over their biphobia in the 1990s. The city council's equal opportunities policies and service monitoring only recognised the existence of lesbians, gay men, and heterosexual people.
“No Bisexuals” door policies
In the 1990s a number of lesbian and gay bars in and around Manchester's Canal Street gay village operated admission policies of not allowing in customers who were thought to be heterosexual. Some of those venues also barred bisexuals, and the group sought to challenge these and spread awareness in the community of biphobic venues.
Venues recorded as unfriendly to bi clientele included:
In 2007 BiPhoria followed this up by surveying the venues in the gay village about whether they welcomed bi customers in the light of the goods and serivces provisions of the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations which implemented provisions of the Equality Act 2006.
Other issues at that time
Successor
Meetings faded in the late 1990s and Bisexual Action took up the role that BAM had held.
