Ontario/Toronto Bisexual Network, 1989-Present

The Toronto-based Ontario Bisexual Network (OBN) was established in 1989 by bisexual activist Jennifer Chambers and an unnamed male friend of hers. Chambers was also the founder of Toronto's first bisexual women's group "Bykes." Unfortuately, aside from an interview with Jennifer that is available through The ArQuives' collection, we have no further informaton about Bykes' activities. After having gotten the women's only bisexual group off the ground in 1983, Jennifer later founded the OBN for opportunities to open up community conversations about bisexual men's experiences. The group also operated with the intentions of creating a network of bisexual groups in Canada and other parts of North America, as many were being established from the 1980s onward.

The OBN, in its early years, especially focused on facilitating connections among bisexual people across Ontario; they would operate to spread news about support group meetings at the 519 Community Centre in Toronto, social events, and events such as bisexual conferences. The group produced educational materials and brochures about safe sexuality practices and destigmatizing bisexuality; they also circulated publications which included a newsletter and a mailing list for bisexual people - and the larger queer community - across Ontario.

The newsletter below demonstrates the OBN's focus and commitment to connecting bisexual people across Ontario; they also viewed enhancing the bisexual community's visibility and education about bisexuality as essential to increasing acceptance of bisexual people in the queer community and society more broadly.

As an organization geared towards building feelings of community belonging for bisexual people across the province, the OBN provided a range of services and resources for those who wanted or needed them, primarily through the avenue of support and discussion meetings at the 519. They also worked towards increasing the presence of bisexual people at Toronto's annual Pride celebrations.

The group changed its name from the Ontario Bisexual Network to the Toronto Bisexual Network (TBN) in 1995, as bisexual support groups in other parts of Ontario, such as Kitchener-Waterloo, Peterborough, Guelph, and Windsor, proliferated in the 1990s and further developed their own local characters. The OBN thus became more loosely affiliated, with bisexual groups across Ontario still remaining in some level of contact with each other as a provincial network for bisexual visibility and advocacy. Newsletters circulated by the OBN often kept members up to date with bisexual activism that was occurring in other Ontario cities.

TBN remained responsible for connecting bisexual people, as well as increasing the community's visibility and welfare across Toronto. Members of the group were also interested in being involved in larger queer political activism that was occurring in the city regarding the AIDS crisis ("die-ins") and same-sex marriage.

The group remined a support and discussion space, as it had for many years, where members could talk about what it was like and what it meant to be bisexual, one where their experiences and struggles with family, partners, and other queer community members could be discussed in a safe and affirming environment. They also organized bi-specific events meant to cultivate positive experiences for community members to celebrate their bisexuality amongst each other. Support, celebration, and education for other communities were all paramount to the group's ethos.

TBN retained a contingent in Toronto's Pride celebrations from the mid-1990s until today. A number of more active members and facilitators of the group would also attend bisexual conferences in other cities, such as Boston, to network with activists outside of Toronto. They would host workshops and presentations to educate the public about bisexuality, keeping true to the group's aim of destigmatizing bisexuality through education. The TBN also organized an annual Bi Bash, which ran from around 2006 to 2009. The Bi Bash was a cabaret show that the group organized for Celebrate Bisexuality Day, which is celebrated even to this day on September 23rd.