Trans people have been an integral part of the UK bi community that BiCon is part of from its very start in 1981.
As an event, BiCon has been trans-inclusive since its start in 1984. I sometimes say 'since 1993', but that's just when we had the vote following someone objecting to the policy at the very end of 1992's one.
It's not been up for debate since. It's not going to be up for debate at this one either.
Sexual orientation isn't binary
It's the basis of the community. It was proven beyond doubt decades ago. Even so, somewhere between a quarter and a fifth of the UK population think bisexuality doesn't exist and everyone is either hetero- or homo-sexual.
Gender isn't binary
Gender is a spectrum, like sexual orientation. Some cultures explicitly recognise more than two. Even if someone thinks there are only two, and thinks their definitions are the only 'right' ones, they should recognise that what a 'woman' or a 'man' is varies according to where you are in the world (and when!) They might not like that, of course, but you have to be very well insulated from reality to deny it.
Sex isn't binary
Having the UK's Supreme Court say otherwise this week is just an example of the Douglas Adams joke about "such attitude is based on three things: ignorance, stupidity, and nothing else".
If you don't want to join them, do some reading* that's not presented to you by bigots and you might learn that people's sex anatomy sometimes differs from their sex hormones which sometimes differ from their sex cells or chromosomes.
It's an horrific judgement. The mere fact of it being unanimous, with all five judges agreeing with this garbage, is bad enough.
Their definition of "biological sex" is "the sex of a person at birth", i.e. 'what someone wrote on their birth certificate', presumably after judging their genitals. That choice disagrees with the actual biology more frequently than you might think.
Every time you hear a politician talk about "biological sex" just substitute the words "what someone wrote on a birth certificate" and see how much sense that makes
The level of ignorance of reality is astounding.
The word "bisexual" doesn't get mentioned once in the judgement. It's a bit odd, because it's quite happy to talk about "lesbians and gay men for whom the biological aspect of their same sex attraction is defining". Remind me what the biological bit is… ah, yes, so they listened to people whose defining attraction is to an M or F on a birth certificate.
I'd be astonished if there weren't some people who demand to see an original birth certificate before deciding whether or not they're attracted to someone, but that's not being 'lesbian' or 'gay', that's being batshit.
…
I sometimes moan about the bi community not having external funding. You can't be a 'professional bisexual', at least in any way I'd be happy being, in the way you can be a professional bigot.
But it does mean that we do not have to please any funders, public or private, or worry that if we say 'that judgement is an appalling pile of shit', they'll stop giving us money.
It's going to be a more interesting than usual Pride season this year. Each one will be judged on how trans-inclusive it is.
We're going to stay on the right side of history.
To help with that, I've ordered a couple of hundred enamel badges:
They'll be available for free to attendees. Donations towards the cost are welcome.
* You might need to use Tor or a VPN to access SciHub.