This Tuesday #BisexualMenExist trended across Twitter as many used the hashtag to speak out about the erasure and mistreatment of bisexual men, even within the LGBT+ community. Vaneet Mehta started the tag and encouraged others to retweet the hashtag along with a picture of themselves to promote positivity with the community after the large amounts of biphobia towards bi men he noticed recently.

The biphobia towards Bi men recently has been so shit and honestly, in MY LGBT+ history month?! How dare! So I’m bring back #BisexualMenExist for some much needed positivity! Drop a pic below with the hashtag and RT this thread! Allies, also RT! I’ll start! ??? pic.twitter.com/BYl1D2hzvV

— Vaneet Mehta, The Lammy Nominated Author (@nintendomad888) February 24, 2020

GCN reached out to Vaneet who explained that the hashtag was spawned out of the growing biphobia aimed at Bi men after the airing of an episode of the reality show ‘Love Is Blind’. The show is a “social experiment where single men and women look for love and get engaged, all before meeting in person.”

The episode that spurred Vaneet to start the hashtag saw one of the couples, Carlton and Diamond, get into a turbulent argument after Carlton came out as bisexual to his new fiancée. Carlton’s brave move to come out to Diamond however backfired and she simply couldn’t accept the news and accused him of potentially being unfaithful and “playing the victim”. What’s more, many people on Twitter agreed with Diamond and took her side in the situation. Vaneet felt that even though Diamond was in the wrong, Carlton shouldn’t have lashed out the way he did.

https://twitter.com/strongblacklead/status/1230555946197237760

After seeing the overwhelming number of biphobic responses, Vaneet decided something needed to be done and started #BisexualMenExist to raise awareness as well as promote positivity within the community.

“It’s important because bisexual men are often labelled as “secretly gay” and erased. Our sexuality isn’t seen as valid. It’s often why bisexual men don’t come out and have worse mental health than gay men,” Vaneet explained.

Many bisexual men took to Twitter to tweet under the hashtag.

bi kings rise up #BisexualMenExist pic.twitter.com/9fxr3PDaUn

— bisexual aries enigma (@MelanesianChaos) February 26, 2020

https://twitter.com/JoshuaRush/status/1232373738944942085

https://twitter.com/ezramoment/status/1232642015499898880

With some people even using the tag as an opportunity to come out!

I guess now's as good a time as any to come oot in public, eh? #BisexualMenExist pic.twitter.com/HttNUbvT3J

— Jam (@yosoyeljam) February 25, 2020

I’ve been thinking a lot about authenticity lately and what it means to me. The truth is, I’m bisexual. You can choose to hate it or love it, it doesn’t matter to me. I hope this post inspires strength and courage to those who wish to live their authentic life. #bisexualmenexist

— “The Black Sheep” Dave Turner (@TheBlackSheepDT) February 25, 2020

While others took to the #BisexualMenExist in a show of support.

#BisexualMenExist and don't deserve to be ignored or fetishized or dehumanized or mocked ?

— Elle Has Cats (and ADHD) (@ellle_em) February 25, 2020

I saw the tag and had to say that while i'm a gay, trans male, I want to give love/support to bi men. You're so valid, you're not confused, you don't need to pick a side, if you have slight preference towards one gender over another, that's valid. You're perfect #BisexualMenExist

— AURELiA ✨? 【Sky Creator Troupe】 (@StarlitSiren) February 25, 2020

Identity erasure is REAL! It’s hard to admit that I’ve been complicit in enabling this type of dismissive behavior and for that I say to my bi brothers, I am truly sorry #BisexualMenExist https://t.co/5ZZeBuNEg6

— Terrance Paape, M.A. ? ?️‍? ?? ? (@tpaape) February 26, 2020

Hi, bisexual ally here. There is no fucking reason why bisexual people, men especially, should receive any kind of hatred from anybody, let alone hatred from under the rainbow umbrella. Go fix your hair and be better. #BisexualMenExist

— Zero Cool (@DGRMSP) February 24, 2020

Vaneet expressed his joy at the positive outcome from the tag saying: “The response has been incredible!! I couldn’t even imagine that so many people would see it, let alone have it trending!! I’m so glad that I managed to touch people and help them! A few people even came out! It was beautiful and uplifting and a positive way to fight back against the biphobia!”