It's a question for which there appears to be no universally accepted answer. Nevertheless, most people have strong preconceptions about bisexuality in a black context. For some in the black gay community, to be bisexual is to be closeted. For many in the larger black community, it summons images of everything from exotic women to dangerously deceptive boyfriends and husbands. And for many in both, it's just a gentler way of saying homosexual.
People use the word bisexual in a lot of different ways.
It's so heavily charged. Shant T. Smalls says she's experienced those preconceptions most profoundly within the gay community rather than among straight people. Smalls, who identifies as bisexual, is dating another bisexual woman now. For the most part, people have no problem with their relationship. As long as she's dating a woman, she says, people don't care what she identifies herself as.