The reason is probably that there is still a problem with what is called "bisexual erasure", meaning that people have a problem accepting the fact that bisexuality is even a thing, that they downplay someone's bisexuality and overemphasize either their homosexuality or their heterosexuality. Also, many people still think that to be classified as bisexual, you have to be sexually attracted to men and women equally, even though someone who is mostly attracted to the same gender (or mostly attracted to the opposite gender) and feels only some attraction to the opposite (or the same) gender still falls on the bisexual spectrum.
Since awareness of this is still low even today, think about how it was back then. Freddie had a lot of well-known relationships with men and only two (known) relationships with women (although these both lasted years) - Mary Austin and Barbara Valentin. His contemporaries (and he himself maybe) probably took this to mean that he was gay and had denial-issues, or he was gay and confused, or he was gay but willing to make exceptions. However, even "gay but willing to make exceptions" falls under the vast spectrum of bisexuality.
The fact that this was not exactly common knowledge at the time (and still isn't today) probably coloured people's views of him, which is why everyone called him gay. Today however, people who identify as bisexual are very adamant about the fact that bisexuality is a spectrum and that ignoring someone's same-sex or opposite-sex relationships and oversimplifying someone's sexuality to either gay or straight is just not a nice thing to do because it robs bisexuals of their representation and makes it seem like bisexuality is super rare or even a myth.
Edited by Camsci
I'm not saying bisexuality doesn't exist. Bisexuality was pretty prevalent in the 1980s, you know. Boy George originally came out as bisexual to avoid the social stigma of being identified as gay (though he later stated he regretted doing so). And George Michael admitted that when he first realized he was attracted to men his first thought was "oh, I'm bisexual", and continued to date women. A lot of his drug use and personal issues in the 80s was due to the fact that he realized he wasn't attracted to any of his girlfriends, and he tried desperately to convince himself he was bisexual and not gay. So identifying yourself as bisexual is by no means a new phenomena.
But Freddie (despite his relationships with both Mary and Barbara) didn't seem to identify as bisexual. He seemed to identify as gay, and everyone else who knew him identify him as gay. Heck, his relationship with Barbara is even under dispute nowadays because most people don't think they even had sex (and Freddie apparently admitted in an interview that Mary was the last woman he had sex with).
"Today however, people who identify as bisexual are very adamant about the fact that bisexuality is a spectrum and that ignoring someone's same-sex or opposite-sex relationships and oversimplifying someone's sexuality to either gay or straight is just not a nice thing to do because it robs bisexuals of their representation and makes it seem like bisexuality is super rare or even a myth."
This ideology bothers me. So Freddie gets classified as bisexual because bisexuals want representation? It doesn't work like that. If Freddie didn't consider himself bisexual (and if everyone he knew doesn't consider him bisexual), then he shouldn't be labeled as such just because one group of people want him to be. There's nothing wrong with being either bisexual or gay. But since no one who actually knew Freddie has ever said he was bisexual, I think their word matters more.
I didn't claim you said bisexuality doesn't exist. My intent was not to put words in your mouth. I'm sorry if it came across that way. I understood your post as a question along the lines of "why do people do this?" and I wanted to explain why I think it happens.
In the end it boils down to the question of how much the label a person uses for themself matters in how they should or should not be classified. I'm pretty torn on the issue. On the one hand, I totally agree with you. If Freddie said he was gay, it seems disrespectful to use a label he did not identify with. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who label themselves as something that is at odds with their behaviour (such as men who only sleep with other men but refuse the label "gay"). Also we can never know for sure what his private life really looked like. Barbara Valentin claims to have slept with him, but none of us can know for sure. Nor should we, probably.
Bottom line is I can really understand both sides. I see him as bisexual (you could also make an argument for calling him homosexual but biromantic if you really want to split hairs), but I also see the problem with labeling him as such. If it bothers you that much, go ahead and change it in the articles. I won't change it back. I've never edited any of the articles and I don't plan to. This just suddenly sparked my interest, so I wanted to put my two cents in. (also - sorry if any of that reads kind of weird, English is not my first language)
... well first off, that really shouldn't be on the page at all, so there's that.
But yeah. Not respecting a person's self-identification in order to be more progressive seems oddly backwards. Imagine if a page said "Might be the most famous transgender person (even though he was actually cisgender" or something.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
Maybe he considered himself "serially monosexual" meaning he was "gay" when he was with a man and "straight" when he was with a woman?
Of course the one person to bring light into the dark can't anymore, so we're stuck...
I will go ahead and edit the trope to remove the reference to Freddie being bisexual, since this isn't supported by anyone who knew Freddie.
"Pop-Cultural Osmosis: Freddie Mercury is probably just as famous as one of the most famous gay (even though he was bisexual) celebrities of all time, as well as one of the most famous persons who died of AIDS."
Can I ask why there's a repeated emphasis on this page and on Queen's page that Freddie was bisexual and not gay? For all intents and purposes Freddie did not identify as bisexual. He was even quoted as describing himself as "gay as a daffodil" in an unedited interview with David Wigg. Furthermore, from interviews and documentaries I've seen there doesn't seem to be a single person who knew Freddie who considered him bisexual. Every single interview I've seen they've called him gay. Freddie's friends have said he was gay. Freddie's sister Kashmira has said he was gay. Even Mary Austin, one Freddie's greatest loves, has said that he was gay and not bisexual.
I don't want to make a big deal out of this, nor do I want to upset anyone by editing this page to remove tropes. But I don't think it's accurate to keep labeling him as bisexual when no one who knew Freddie (and not even Freddie himself) considered him bisexual.
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