LGBT Groups, Activists Freak Out Over Twitter ‘Bisexual’ Search Error

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Charlie Nash

LGBT groups and activists condemned Twitter on Monday after the social network omitted search results of “bisexual” in error.

After several users discovered that Twitter had omitted all results of  “bisexual” in the pictures and videos search section, several leading LGBT groups released statements.

“This is not the first time innocent LGBTQ content has been wrongfully blocked on Twitter. Yet each time we see band aid fixes that ignore the root of the issue,” claimed the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

“We’re surprised to see some searches for #bisexual and #gay blocked,” added the Human Rights Campaign in their own post. “We urge you to fix – #LGBTQ visibility matters.”

BiPrideUK also condemned Twitter, declaring, “Today [Twitter] introduced a search filter blocking photo search on #bisexual and #bisexuality hashtags (among others). So far the outcry is mostly from the bi community. Could other orgs from the wider community add their voices too? This is bi-erasure,” while The Bisexual Index claimed Twitter needed to be more “sensitive.”

In a statement, The Bisexual Index’s Kate Harrad claimed that bisexual people have “historically been hypersexualised and associated with porn and promiscuity.”

“Every bi-activist knows the problems of trying to search for bi-content on the web and some public wifi systems block it altogether, even when it’s nothing to do with sex, because bisexual is seen as a dodgy word in itself,” she proclaimed. “This is why Twitter needs to be very sensitive to any filtering that reduces access to bi content, and very aware of the problem of bisexual erasure.”

Despite the numerous statements alleging that Twitter was intentionally discriminating against bisexual people, the company quickly stated that it was an error currently being fixed.

“We’ve identified an error with search results for certain terms. We apologize for this,” they explained. “We’re working quickly to resolve & will update soon.”

Charlie Nash covers technology and LGBT news for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington and Gab @Nash, or like his page at Facebook.

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