A new report from Statistics Canada shows bisexual people in Canada experience a higher rate of violence compared gay and lesbian people.
The report, released Thursday, found among Canadians aged 18 years and older, there were more than 1,000 thousand self-reported incidents of violent victimization involving a bisexual victim.
The report said violent victimization is when a person is either the victim of a physical or sexual assault, or robbery.
The rate of violence for bisexual victims is close to double compared to lesbian or gay victims and close to four times more compared to heterosexual victims.
"A lot of people still think bisexuality is not a real thing,” said Jonathan Niemczak, President of Pride Winnipeg Festival.
He said in the 31 years since the pride festival was in Winnipeg, gay and lesbian people have been at the forefront of the movement, and in turn have been receiving the most privilege and rights.
“That you're either one or the other, which is a really odd concept. When we talk about the fact we're trying to break the binary, and we keep thinking you can't be… this fluidity, or there are grey zones. That misunderstanding, that ignorance obviously then leads to violence."
Data from the report dates back to 2014 and does not include information about violence and people within the transgender community.
Pride Winnipeg Festival said it can't comment on why data about trans people was not collected or presented in the report, but said often when it comes to surveys and statistics, there is a need for organizations to gather more information on sexually diverse people.
