.. and not the good kind.
The BBC have been marking the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of sex between men in England and Wales with a season, Gay Britannia, that includes both radio and TV.
Given that the subtitle is "Bold and provocative stories exploring how far we’ve come since being gay was a crime", you can guess what the balance is. Indigo Girls get interviewed, "Stephanie Hirst talks frankly about her gender reassignment", and there's a programme about "texts and music inspired by the love between women". And an awful lot of programmes about men. Gay ones.
Now, I haven't watched / listened to all of them. I don't (yet) know if the legendary Tom Robinson is better at including the B than most of the other presenters, for example. I'd hope so.
But what's very noticeable is that in the list is one programme from the BBC World Service's The Documentary series: Who Decides If Gay Is OK? on the difference between the law in the UK and in Zambia.
There have been other LGBT-themed programmes in that series recently, haven't there?
Ah yes, Inside Transgender Pakistan and Being Bisexual.
More and more people are identifying as bisexual yet bi-phobia is rife and the world's media remains guilty of regular bi-erasure. Journalist and writer Nichi Hodgson who is openly bisexual herself, examines what it is like to be bisexual for both men and women in different parts of the world.
Bold bits mine, because quite, Nichi, quite. Given the tenuous nature of the links to the 50th anniversary or indeed the UK, why aren't these on the page that people are most likely to look at when wanting to know more about LGBT issues?
This is what erasure looks like.
Update: I see that the producers of Being Bisexual think it's part of the Gay Britannia series…
BEING BISEXUAL – only exclusively bi doc in BBC LGBT season with @NichiHodgson @bisexualindex @bbcworldservice https://t.co/cmrlOD0X7d
— Made in Manchester (@MIMProductions) July 27, 2017
Their feed is currently full of rather a lot of RTs about it.
