During bisexual Awareness Week, Mara Wilson sat down with Ariel Goldberg, from the organization Lambda Legal, to talk about the reason she came out as bisexual.
Wilson, who is a public figure and has a platform not many others have, explained that she decided to talk about her sexual orientation because she is in a place of safety and privilege. She wanted to share her experience in order to help others struggling with the same issues.
On being bi
Mara Wilson decided to come out as bisexual last year, after the horrific shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
The tragedy that took place that night was one of the worst hate crimes suffered by the LGBTQ community.
Wilson explained that she wanted to come out in solidarity towards others in her community. She wanted to use her place of "privilege" and "security" as a means to come out and show support to people in more vulnerable positions. "I don't see myself as anybody's savior, but I'd rather it were me - who can afford therapy and this platform - getting harassed for being who I am than a young LGBTQ kid," she comments.
According to the former Actress, it's important to use your platform for good. Sharing a part of your identity with others in the same community could help them feel less alone. She also added that nowadays, she prefers the label 'queer' to describe her sexuality instead of bisexual, but that she doesn't have a problem with people using the word bisexual.
The stigma around bisexuality
During the interview, Wilson also talked about the prejudices and stigma surrounding bisexual people. She explained that the reason she took such a long time to come out was because all her life she kept hearing awful things about bisexual women. "I heard that bisexual girls were crazy, greedy and selfish.
That they caused drama and wanted attention," she shared.
She thinks that in order to help change this image there needs to be more bisexual representation in the media. She went on to say that the entertainment industry needs more bisexual characters. Mara, who's an author, comments that she's been working on including this in her own writing.
The 30-year-old writer went on to say that there needs to be more respect towards others and their identities. She said that if it makes somebody happy and if it's part of their identity, there needs to respect towards it. She explained that there's no need to fully understand someone else to show them respect.