Since she was a teen, Nicole Holmes has enthusiastically attended Pride events for the excitement of being in a crowd of people who are like her.

But when she brings along a male partner, she says she is followed by troubling looks from other LGBTQ people who assume she is “straight” based on the couple they see. 

“As someone who is a bi woman and who primarily has had dating experiences with men, it gets really bad as far as like the stares, the ‘why are you here?'” Holmes, 29, said.

Holmes is not alone. Bisexual people, who make up 57% of the USA’s adult LGBTQ population, face a unique form of bias – even within their own community – that can have far-reaching implications, particularly on health issues, advocates say.   

Lauren Beach, a research assistant professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine said bisexuals face stigma from straight, gay and lesbian people and lack access to a broader “Bi+” community made up of bisexuals and people who experience attraction regardless of gender, also called pansexual.

“Biphobia is pervasive,” Beach said. “Lots and lots of people in society of a variety of sexual orientations who are not bisexual report biphobic attitudes.”

LGBTQ resources, like support groups, are less likely to focus on bisexual needs, according to Beach, and that can further isolate bisexual people. Compared to gays and lesbians, bisexuals are also far less likely to be out to people in their lives, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center report.

Bisexual men and women face pervasive stigma

Beach said one of the most harmful, false stereotypes about bisexual people is they won’t “ever be fulfilled with one person,” which leads their partners to think, “Am I enough, can this person be trusted?”

“People think of bisexuality in terms of, ‘You can’t trust bisexual people because they’re cheaters – you don’t want a bisexual person as a partner because they’re promiscuous,” Beach said.

In a 2016 survey published by the National Institutes for Health with over 3,000 respondents, more than 1 in 5 said bisexual people are “incapable of being faithful in a relationship.” Nearly 40% of respondents said they weren’t sure if bisexual people were capable of being faithful.  

THIS IS AMERICA: Sign up for USA TODAY’s free weekly take on the news from reporters from a range of backgrounds and experiences