A simple, but loving comment from the President of the United States to her son in Prime Video's latest romcom shows just how far we've come when it comes to bisexual acceptance on the small screen.
In Red, White & Royal Blue, Uma Thurman plays President Ellen Claremont and is comforting her son, Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar) who has just come out to her as bisexual.
"You know, the 'B' in LGBTQ is not a silent letter," Claremont tells her son who has not only come out but admitted he's in love with the fictional Prince Henry of England.
For the film's director and writer, Matthew Lopez, including that line from the 2019 book of the same name by Casey McQuiston was critical. He understood that bisexual people, especially those who identify as male, have not been "treated as fully fledged members of the LGBTQ community."
"When I was younger it was shameful, and there was a suspicion of bisexuality within the LGBTQ community," he told Newsweek.
Bisexual people can face worse mental health outcomes than other LGBTQ people because of a struggle for acceptance both within the LGBTQ community and externally.
In fact, the prejudice can run so deep that many people say they would not consider dating a bisexual person, or a person who is attracted to more than one gender even if they themselves have had sex with someone of the same gender.
Bisexual men tend to fare even worse when it comes to dating members of the opposite sex. A YouGov survey from 2019 found that only 28 percent of women were comfortable with the thought of dating a bisexual partner, while that number jumped to 38 percent for men.
While bisexual characters have existed in shows for years, they were often fodder for jokes or it was mainly bisexual women who were portrayed. But shows such as Lucifer and RuPaul Drag Race alum, Courtney Act's reality dating show, The Bi Life began to change all of that.
Netflix's smash hit Heartstopper is another one that comes to mind. The show's executive producer, Patrick Walters, told Newsweek that they knew they had to do justice to lead character Nick's (Kit Connor) bisexual sexuality.
"In season two, Nick has to repeat 'I'm bi, actually' so many times—it's important to highlight the ridiculousness of it. I know from my bi friends that this is a frustratingly common experience," he explained.
He also said having "amazing bi talent both in front of and behind the camera" on the show helped make Heartstopper's bisexual representation more authentic.
"I've had such great feedback in terms of Nick's story making young bi men particularly feel comfortable in having these conversations around their sexuality," Walters said, and added that bisexual representation for men is "getting better, and it's so heartening to see people take Nick to their hearts and celebrate his sexuality in this way."
For bisexual campaigner Lewis Oakley, the increased positive representation of his community can only be a good thing.
"Historically we've had bisexuals portrayed as untrustworthy or slightly demonic," he told Newsweek, adding that more screen time for bisexual male characters can help "challenge stereotypes."
In Red, White & Royal Blue, Claremont-Diaz's bisexuality is handled with care and without judgment. He himself is not so surprised at his attraction to the British prince, despite only having mainly dated women beforehand.
Or as Lopez puts it, "it's a very chill acceptance of identity."
"What's more dramatically interesting to me is that he's more shocked that he's into Henry, not that he's into a guy," Lopez added.
For Heartstopper star, Kit Connor—who was forced to come out as bisexual himself last year to quell accusations of "queer baiting"—there's a lot more that can be done to better bisexual representation in TV.
"The bisexual community is a community that has really a shockingly low representation, especially male bisexual characters. It is shocking because a huge amount of the LGBTQIA+ community is made up of bisexual people," Connor said during a Critics' Choice Panel in 2022.
While we've come a long way from damaging portrayals such as Sex and the City's infamous mishandling of bisexual characters, it makes sense to increase their visibility because that would be a more true representation of the real world.
The number of people identifying as LGBTQ+ especially among Gen Z—those born between 1997 and 2004—has doubled in a decade, according to a Gallup poll.
"I think there's a lot more bisexuality in the world than we than we acknowledge. And I also think there's a lot more bisexuality in the world than people feel comfortable being open about," Lopez explained, adding that there is still remaining "entrenched" prejudice against bisexuals.
"Until there is a full, true embracing of the bisexual identity...these stories are important."
Lopez added he hoped at a minimum his movie would entertain people, but "if the movie also allows people to have literal pride in their identity...to feel safe self-identifying, then that's a go/od use of the last two and half years of my life."
Update 8/22/23, 10:42 a.m. ET. This story was updated to include comment from Patrick Walters.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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