The word 'bisexual' comes from a place and time (in white western culture anyway) when only two genders were recognised and the word reflects that, however, the community has absolutely reclaimed the word and embodied it with a whole new meaning that rejects the gender binary.

All of these facts can coexist.

You know what else has dubious origins and has been reclaimed as an identity? Gay. That used to be an insult. But now you recognise it's shift and use it accordingly.

Why not the same for bisexual?

We know that etymologically, 'bi' means 'two'. That's our history. We have reclaimed it from that. That's also our history.

It's painful to see the work of the queer community and queer activists in reclaiming our words be rode roughshod over by people who haven't done the work.

Because I'm not sure this was clear enough, a quick conclusion: stop telling us bisexual folk that our sexuality means 'attracted to both genders', stop claiming that identifying as bisexual is inherently transphobic or reinforces the idea of there being only two genders.

We, as a community, have reckoned with the history of the word used to describe our identity, and we have taken back power away from the cishets who originally coined it and back into our queer hands. The definition of bisexual is 'attraction to two or more genders.'

So please stop coming into bisexual people's mentions with your smug 'but bi means two' comments. We KNOW the etymology of our identity. The community reckoned with that several decades ago. You are not making the salient point you think you are.