It's bi+ week and we've asked some people in our network to share their thoughts on being a bisexual person of faith. Today you'll hear from Victor who is an active member in our Swedish member organisation Christian Rainbow Movement - EKHO.

I love being bi and Christian. While there are many that would have us believe that those two identities can't function together, for me, they have always been connected to each other. I was in church the day I finally said aloud: ”I am bisexual”. Well, not exactly “aloud”, but I did whisper it to myself. I’ve seldom felt closer to God than I did in those moments. Seldom felt more loved, accepted or seen.

In the years since, I’ve realised more than one instance where my queerness has affected my beliefs (and/or the other way around). God is so much more than our descriptions can ever do justice, and any attempts to limit that seems so strange to me. And in the same spirit, we are so much more than the boxes people want to put us in, regardless of whether we draw them between nations, ethnicity, sexuality or gender.

Bi visibility is so important. I had the good fortune to not fear the reactions of those around me if I would come out, but I still needed over a decade of questioning my identity before I could do so, and I truly believe that has a lot to do with lack of bi+ representation and role models. I eventually found that representation, and when I did, it didn’t take much time to find myself in the stories and experiences of others. But to find that I had to actively go looking.

To be fair, it is hard to be visible as a bi+ person. Part of that is just practical (I mean, how do you look bi?), but there's also still a lot of ignorance one can run into, both in communities of faith and of other LGBTAI+ people. But if you have the ability to be out, or to share your story in a safe place, you can make a big difference.

That night in church we were to sing a hymn, barely a minute after I came out to myself. Roughly translated, the first lines went as follows:

Only in the open, there is possibility,
If you lock yourself in, you’ll wither and suffocate,
Walk with the Lord, out into the open.

- Victor Tedeman