Teens who identify as bisexual are experiencing lower levels of social and family acceptance than their gay and lesbian peers, according to a new study.
The Human Rights Commission surveyed 10,030 LGBTQ teens about their happiness, support, drug and alcohol use, and their sense of belonging.
In the survey 3,808 participants (38 percent) identified as bisexual and only 10 percent of those bisexual teens felt they "definitely fit in" with their communities.
Bisexual youth surveyed by the Human Rights Commission were reportedly less likely to be out to their families, friends, peers and communities. They also reported lower levels of happiness and were much less optimistic about achieving their ambitions.
The results of the survey suggest that people have a lack of knowledge of or do not understand the bisexual community.
"My parents aren't homophobic, but, when it comes to me, they aren't accepting at all," one teen told the Human Rights Commission. "They say I can't be bi. I have to be gay or straight."
Some bisexual teens also notice a lack of understanding of their peers.
"When I tell males about my sexuality, I get many remarks like 'that's so hot,' which I feel like fetishizes my sexual orientation," another teen told the Human Rights Commission.
The lack of understanding of the bisexual orientation even appears to exist within the LGBTQ (Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, Questioning/Queer) community.
"As a bisexual, I feel shunned by the gay and lesbian community," one teen confesses to the Human Rights Commission.
Although many teens suffer with people accepting their bisexuality, there are a lot of celebrities who are openly bisexual and trying to educate people on the orientation such as Meghan Fox, Angelina Jolie, Andy Dick, Drew Barrymore, Clive Davis and Billie Joe Armstrong.
"It's ingrained in our heads that it's bad, when it's not bad at all. It's a very beautiful thing," Billie Joe Armstrong told The Advocate when he came out to them in 1995.
The Human Rights Commission says educating yourself is the first step someone should take in order to become an ally for bisexual youth.
