2004 began with an away weekend in Milton Keynes for bisexual activists – people who were or who wanted to get involved in things like running local groups, helplines and events. It wasn’t the most high profile bi event ever, but the discussions of the 35 or so people attending shaped a lot of the agenda for bi community work in the following years.
The weekend drew people from across England, Scotland and Wales and a packed agenda started with a presentation “W(h)ither Bisexuality” that posed questions about the priorities and agenda of the bi movement in the UK: personal change, community development or political policy-making?
Most of the weekend was more practical in tone though: engagement with other overlapping communities; learning from the successes of other movements and marginalised groups; updating web and physical bi resources.
It led to tangible outcomes in the months and years that followed. This included: further activist away days and weekends; the production of the guidebook to the UK bi scene Both Directions; the formation of a network of bi academics, BiBlio, which would later be better known as BiUK.
