For a long time, bisexuality in UK law existed in a sort of limbo: there were laws that were written with heterosexual people in mind, laws written with gay men in mind, and occasionally lawmakers wondered about the existence of lesbians. Bis thus had a jumbled situation: some relationships more recognised or recognisable in law than others; for bi men, an age of consent that until 2000 varied depending on your partner’s gender. Employers were free to sack people or choose not to employ them on the grounds of sexual orientation: while in theory this would apply to everyone equally, it’s no surprise that it mostly affected bisexual and gay people rather than heterosexuals.
December 2003 saw the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations come into effect, for the first time a law that noted the existence of bisexuality and bi people. They sought to outlaw discrimination at work on grounds of sexual orientation and stated that:
Within the Regulations, sexual orientation is defined as –
Orientation towards persons of the same sex (lesbians and gay men)
Orientation towards persons of the opposite sex (heterosexual)
Orientation towards persons of the same sex and the opposite sex (bisexual).
It fails on asexuality and on reflecting the nuances of genders beyond the two popular ones – but for the first time, the “B” word made it into law.
