The BiCon (more formally known as the UK National Bisexual Convention or UK National Bisexual Conference), is the largest and most consistent annual gathering of the United Kingdom's bisexual community.

While the format does vary, the typical format is a long weekend over four days consisting of workshops, discussions, meetings and social events. Although being billed as a "bisexual" event, it is open to partners of bisexuals, supporters, non-bisexuals, non-definers, and anyone else interested in issues relevant to bisexuals. To that extent it can often be characterised as a nexus of the sexual freedom and queer movements. Each BiCon event usually attracts between 200 and 400 people.Hemmings, Clare. (2002). Bisexual Spaces: a geography of sexuality and gender, p. 18. Routledge, London. . The event frequently changes location in England. It has only visited places such as Wales, once or twice since inception.

History In December 1984 the London Bisexual Group (in association with the now defunct zine Bi-Monthly) ran a conference called "The Politics of Bisexuality" at The Factory Community Project in Highbury. Around 40 people attended and judged the event to be a huge success. A second event was then attended by over fifty people in April 1985. Unfortunately the venue used, the London Lesbian and Gay Centre, had just decided to ban bisexuals (and some other groups) from their premises. This did not stop the conferences which soon gained popularity in a Britain devoid of bisexual-focused events.

That following October the Edinburgh Bisexual Group took up the torch and ran an event called "Bisexuality and the Politics of Sex". This established the idea of conferences moving around the nation. The next was run by a bisexual women's group in London. By this point the community was starting to know what they wanted from BiCon – a chance to meet other bisexuals (and their allies) from across the country, discuss sexuality issues, relax in the company of like-minded folk and network.

Armed with an agreed purpose, for the next few years the conference alternated between venues in London and Edinburgh. Then in 1989 it branched out to Coventry. As well as being the first one outside the two capitals, it was also the first to be residential (previously, people from outside the host city had either booked accommodation privately or stayed with local attendees) and to use the name 'BiCon', in part because of the organisers' and venue's experience with SF Cons (Science Fiction conventions).

A range of cities and towns have hosted it since. Over time BiCon has evolved to fit with the needs of the community. The word 'conference' has been largely replaced by 'convention', but there is still a political and campaigning side to the event. In recent years the momentum behind the event has spawned a number of offshoots, such as BiFest, BabyBiCon, and the bi academic conference BiReCon, which have expanded on particular areas covered by BiCon.

In 2002 BiCon hosted the first Cake Awards recognising the breadth of contributions made to the bisexual community in the UK. Further Cake Awards have been presented at BiCon every few years since.

In the Netherlands, Holland BiCon was inspired by UK BiCon, and has run annually since 2009. BICON has been a registered trade mark of BiCon Continuity Ltd since 2016.

Past events Name Dates Venue City Attendance Residential?The Politics of Bisexuality8–9 December 1984The Factory Community Project London402nd Politics of Bisexuality ConferenceApril 1985London Lesbian and Gay CentreLondon50+Bisexuality and the Politics of SexOctober 1985The Pleasance Student CentreEdinburgh524th National Bisexual ConferenceJuly 1986The Mary Ward Centre, BloomsburyLondon705th National Bisexual Conference? 1987The Pleasance Student CentreEdinburgh1196th National Bisexual Conference October 1988Friends Meeting House, Hampstead, London154BiCon 7: The 7th National Bisexual Conference26–30 August 1989Coventry Polytechnic (now Coventry University)Coventry200-?8th National Bisexual Conference7–10 September 1990Tollcross Community CentreEdinburgh200+9th National Bisexual Conference 20–22 September 1991University of London UnionLondon240+BiCon 1026–30 August 1992University of East AngliaNorwich200BiCon 11 1–3 October 1993Derby Hall, University of NottinghamNottingham250+BiCon 123–6 August 1994Methodist Central HallEdinburgh~20013iCon 1–3 September 1995University of Central EnglandBirmingham 245BiCon 1430 August – 1 September 1996Kingston University, Kingston upon ThamesLondon250BiCon 97 / BiCon 15 28–31 August 1997University of Greenwich, WoolwichLondon 180BiCon 98 / BiCon 164–6 September 1998New Hall, CambridgeCambridge?BiCon 1999 / BiCon 17 16–18 July 1999Pollock Halls, University of EdinburghEdinburgh201BiCon 2000 / BiCon 18 (incorporating the 6th ICB)24–28 August 2000Owens Park Campus, University of ManchesterManchester265BiCon 2001 24–27 August 2001Singer Hall and main campus, Coventry UniversityCoventry169BiCon 2002 16–18 August 2002College Hall, University of LeicesterLeicester189BiCon 2003 22–25 August 2003Docklands Campus, University of East LondonLondon237BiCon 200426–30 August 2004Fallowfield Campus, University of ManchesterManchester273BiCon 2005 25–29 August 2005University College WorcesterWorcester (+170) BiCon 2006 13–17 July 2006Glasgow Caledonian UniversityGlasgow 200 BiCon 2007 16–20 August 2007Trefforest Campus, University of GlamorganPontypridd, nr Cardiff 246 BiCon 2008 28–31 August 2008Gilbert Murray Hall, University of LeicesterLeicester 250 BiCon 200920–23 August 2009St. John's Campus, University of WorcesterWorcester ~235 BiCon 2010 & the 10th ICB 26–30 August 2010Docklands Campus, University of East LondonLondon ~460Bicon 2011 1–4 September 2011Stamford Hall, University of LeicesterLeicester 297Bicon 2012 9–13 August 2012University of BradfordBradford 300Bicon 2013 18–21 July 2013University of EdinburghEdinburgh 311BiCon 2014 31 July – 3 August 2014Leeds Trinity UniversityLeedsBiCon 2015 13–16 August 2015University of NottinghamNottingham 437BiCon 2016 4–7 August 2016University of Central LancashirePreston 304BiCon 2017 10–13 August 2017Leeds Beckett University, Headingley CampusLeeds 375BiCon 2018 2–5 August 2018University of SalfordSalford 265BiCon 2019 1–4 August 2019University of LancasterLancaster 280+BiCon 2020 13–16 August 2020Virtual event using Zoom & Discordn/a 404BiCon 2021 19–22 August 2021Virtual event using Zoom & Discordn/a ?BiCon 2022 11–14 August 2022Leeds Beckett University, Headingley CampusLeeds ?BiCon 2023 3–6 August 2023Nottingham Trent UniversityNottingham ?BiCon 2024 30 November – 1 December 2024Heartlands High SchoolLondon 111BiCon 2025 25 July – 27 July 2024Nottingham Girls' High SchoolNottingham ?

Future events Name Year Dates Venue CityBiCon 2026202621-23 AugustNottingham Girls' High SchoolNottingham

BabyBiCon A spin-off event BabyBiCon aimed at bisexual youth (those under 26 years old) was held in Manchester on 5–7 June 1998. It was organised at the Ardwick Youth Club by the group BiYouth (which folded in 2000) with support from a couple of local lesbian and gay youth projects. While attracting around 25 people, discussions of holding successor events in 1999 and 2000 led to nothing.

BiReCon BiReCon is a research conference for academic work on bisexuality. BiReCon originated as a series of workshops at BiCon.Barker, Meg-John; Richards, Christina; Jones, Rebecca and Monro, Surya (2011). BiReCon: An International Academic Conference on Bisexuality. Journal of Bisexuality, 11(2-3), pp. 157-170. Elizabeth Baxter-Williams came up with the name while on the organizing committee for the 2008 BiCon.

The first BiReCon was organized as a national conference to be held before BiCon 2008. It was held in 2008 at the University of Leicester. There were approximately 60 attendees.

In 2010, BiCon (UK) organized the 10th International Conference on Bisexuality (ICB). The organizers decided to make the second BiReCon an international conference. It took place on 26 August 2010, the day before ICB, at the University of East London. Speakers included Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, Eric Anderson, Robyn Ochs, and John Sylla. There were approximately 100 attendees.

The third BiReCon took place on 9 August 2012 at Bradford University and focused on mental health. Speakers included Meg-John Barker, Roshan das Nair, and Christina Richards. The fourth BiReCon focused on joining academics research and community-run bi groups, and it was held on 31 July 2014 at Leeds Trinity University.

The fifth BiReCon, EuroBiReCon, was an international conference held on 28–29 July 2016 at the University of Amsterdam. The keynote speakers on the first day were Dr. Surya Monro and Dr. Alex Iantaffi. The second day included a workshop presented by Robyn Ochs, Meg-John Barker, and Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli.

References

"BiCon UK: Archives" at Bicon.org.uk. Accessed 7 May 2011. 2 March 2002 - "BiCon's Past" at Bi.tocotox.org. Accessed 13 July 2005. 27 August 2010 - "National bisexual convention to include daily worship" at ekklesia.co.uk. Accessed 27 September 2010. Pink News - Review: Bisexuality conferences tackle hate crime, censorship and Shakespeare Accessed 27 September 2010. The Guardian - Bisexuals: putting the B back in LGBT Accessed 27 September 2010. BiMedia.org - Britain's Biggest BiCon Ever! Accessed 27 September 2010. World’s biggest Bi-sexual conference at ExCel now on Accessed 27 September 2010. British Bisexuality: A Snapshot of Bisexual Representations and Identities in the United Kingdom - Meg Barker; Helen Bowes-Catton; Alessandra Iantaffi; Angela Cassidy; Laurence Brewer

External links Official website BiCon (UK) at Dreamwidth, including a mirror of the previous LiveJournal community BiCon 2016 BiCon 2017 BiCon 2018