BECAUSE Aims To Empower Bisexuals

Empower, advocate, and inspire are three words that fuel the design, execution, and aspirations of the 15th Bisexual Empowerment Conference: A Uniting, Supportive Experience (BECAUSE), April 17-19.

Becky Saltzman, Because Volunteer and Accessibility Coordinator, says, “Two main goals of BECAUSE are to create the visibility of bisexuality and the bisexual community, and to empower those people and their allies. This event is designed to network with the idea that ‘B’ is part of the [GLBT] acronym, and cannot—should not—be lumped with ‘GL.’”

“Images in Media and Art of Gender Expression and Sexuality” (IMAGES) is this year’s theme. The event promises the most extensive series of programs in the conference’s history.

The keynote speaker, author Robyn Ochs, this year’s winner of the Susan J. Hyde Activism Award, will discuss the impact of bisexual invisibility.

One highlight is the Minnesota premiere screening of Bi the Way, a 2008 documentary that intimately follows the lives of four young individuals in order to expose our country’s tolerance for and concept of bisexuality.

A cabaret features performances by singer/songwriters, as well as drag kings and queens.

The conference is teeming with workshops on topics such as “Health, Wellness, & Diversity”; “State of the Unions”; and “Raising Sex-Positive Children in a Sex-Negative World”—all touching on how bisexuality is depicted in the media.

BECAUSE 2009 is bound to educate, inspire, and entertain, giving participants an opportunity to be part of a weekend full of discourse on aspects vital to the bisexual community.

BECAUSE 2009 / Apr. 17-19 / Coffman Memorial Union, Univ. of Minn., 300 Washington Ave. SE, Mpls. / www.becauseconference.org