Binary Bashers

History Loves Neat Categories.

We Don’t.

BINARY BASHERS is an original audio docu-series produced by Embracing All of Me. The series explores bisexual, bi-coded queer, and gender-expansive historical figures across Black and Latino history.

The series brings into focus individuals whose emotional, relational, and embodied complexity has systemically been flattened, or excluded, from dominant historical narratives.

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What is a Binary Basher?

“I mean to be fully and freely all that I am“

JUNE JORDAN

Binary Bashers: Volume I challenges the idea that Black U.S. and global majority histories must be singular or easily categorized to be valid or recognized. Binary Bashers restores depth to these legacies by tracing how desire, relationships, embodiment, and social life have long moved beyond colonial, heteronormative, and monosexual frameworks. Rather than imposing modern identity labels, it excavates and reads archives, creative work, and community memory to understand how complex ways of living were expressed and recognized in their own time.

“Multiplicity is not confusion.
It’s capacity.“

DR. IBRAHIM FARAJAJE

Binary Bashers is a historical audio documentary series for mature audiences (16+).
Episodes contain discussions of racial violence, trauma, and systemic oppression.
Parents: please preview episodes before sharing with younger listeners.

Featured Figures: Volume I

Claude McKay (1889–1948)
Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875–1935)
Countee Cullen (1903–1946)
June Jordan (1936–2002)
Dr. Ibrahim Farajajé (1952–2016)
Ma Rainey (1886–1939)
Leslie Hutchinson (1900–1969)
Frances Thompson (1840–1876)
Pauli Murray (1910-1985)
Kuwasi Balagon (1946-1986)
ABilly S. Jones-Hennin (1942-2024)

sources page

faqs

Methodology

In Binary Bashers, “bi-coded” is an interpretive lens, used to translate historical figures own writing, art, and lived experience into modern times. “Bi-coded” is not a retroactive identity label. It’s a contextual and historically situated interpretative lens that asks how would we interpret this figure’s work and where they may fit socially if we knew what we know now.

Term	What it implies	Evidence needed
Bi/bisexual	Attraction to multiple genders (self-defined)	Self-identification in speech, writing, or interviews
“Bi-coded“	Attraction to multiple genders (inferred)	Documented relationships, diaries, letters, oral accounts, works, and credible historical accounts
“Queer-coded“	Broad nonconformity, Non-heterosexual or non-normative identity signals, politics, culture, themes, no clear evidence of multi-gender attraction	Themes, gender expression, speculation

Binary Bashers Framework Table

Queer-coded is broader and usually means the person’s life, art, gender expression, or relationships challenge heteronormativity, but there may be no clear evidence of multi-gender attraction. Because queer-coded figures can easily drift into lesbian or gay histories, leaving the bi option as a gap.

RESEARCH & SOURCES

Grounded in primary and secondary sources, including:

In their own words – Writings, poems, lyrics, and essays
Interviews, letters, and oral histories
Archival articles and cultural records

Full citations and resources provided on the Sources page

“The machinery of racial discrimination operates through laws, customs, and practices which, taken together, form a comprehensive pattern.”

PAULI MURRAY

Themes & Topics

Black History Month
Women’s History Month
LGBTQ+ media and Bi+ visibility initiatives
Cultural history and archival storytelling
Identity, race, gender, and sexuality in media
Download the One page flyer here

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Vol. 2 Latinidad – Who Gets to Love Frida Kahlo? – BINARY BASHERS

Frida Kahlo is everywhere: on candles, sneakers, and a Barbie with softened brows. But how much of the bisexual Mexican painter can we still see? In this episode of the Binary Bashers: Latinidad podcast, host Ross Victory looks beyond the icon to the rooms Frida entered and the stories told about her. From Diego Rivera's double standard to Mary Reynolds's care in Paris and Frida's letters to painter Jacqueline Lamba, the episode traces desire, evidence, and bi erasure in queer Latina history. What gets lost when a bisexual Latina artist becomes a brand? Visibility is not the same as being known.If you notice any factual errors, please contact us at stories@embracingallofme.org. We are committed to accuracy and to respecting each figure's legacy and family, and will issue corrections as needed.Binary Bashers is produced by Embracing All of Me, a storytelling and advocacy platform for the multi, the complex, and the in-between, uplifting bi+, queer, and BIPOC voices. For more, visit embracingallofme.org.