Margaret Cho- Is She Queer Or Bi?

Margaret Cho- Is She Queer Or Bi?

The American actress and comedian Margaret Moran Cho has established her name in the entertainment industry as one of the most influential female figures alive. She has also become an icon in the LGBTQ+ community where she has constantly fought for their rights as well as pushing for same-sex marriage across America.

Ryan Van Etten from W. Orange, NJ; modified by User:Animalparty, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cho uses her talent in acting especially in standup comedy to talk about social issues including sexuality. She is a courageous woman who does not shy away from speaking her mind and going against the norms of society. Even though many comedians are free to speak about everything, Cho has made it a routine to speak about some of the most controversial topics in the world.

Amidst the fast rise of the LGBTQ+ community, Cho has been at the forefront of fighting the social prejudice and hatred by the rest of the population. She has explained in the past about the ‘straightwashing’ which is trying to erase the history of lesbians and gay people. Before the release of the television series ‘The Book of Queer,’ the bisexual star found an avenue to reveal the secrets of the hidden stories about LGBTQ people.

In one of her interviews in 2021, Cho spoke candidly about the ‘straightwashing’ that had happened in the past to hide the queer history from people. There were also rumors that the former president of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln was gay.

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“I had no idea about Abraham Lincoln, they straightwashed American history and those founding fathers,” she said in the interview. She believes that many people in history belonged to the LGBTQ community but failed to come out because of societal norms and the no supporting governments.

According to Cho, the society has always taken advantage of the queer community. While many queer people have made enormous contributions to society to help grow the economy, their rights have been overlooked. People have been denied the opportunity to be who they are and embrace their sexual orientations.

“The sexuality part of our identities has been looked over, but our contributions have been taken (from us)” Cho said in the interview.

However, the actress states that she is happy because young people have taken responsibility to be who they were meant to be. She cites the example of Lil Nas X, who has used his talent to show the world who he truly is and tell his story. Cho also quotes social media as a platform that has helped to raise awareness about the LGBTQ+ community. There is less hostility and people have the right information regarding the LGBTQ+ community.

Margaret Cho explains her journey to full acceptance as a bisexual woman saying that she knew about her sexuality when she was a small kid.

When she was interviewed by ‘Today’, the standup comedian was excited because she had the chance to speak about everything. She is not ashamed to talk about her journey to become an icon in the LGBTQ+ community because she has been bisexual her whole life.

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First, she had parents who acknowledged queerness making it easy for her to come out as bisexual in the coming years. However, she says that her parents did not understand why she labeled herself as bisexual, stating that she might be afraid to come out as a lesbian. Cho’s parents Young Hie and Seung Hoon Cho were aware of the queer culture because they were in the gay neighborhood. However, according to them, being bisexual is a blanket term for people who have failed to come out of the closet.

“What my parents had a problem with was bisexuality because they think that’s not real because they’re experiencing bisexuality with people saying they’re bi because they’re not comfortable coming out. It’s like a connecting flight. It’s like a transfer. Bisexuality is like Atlanta, Charlotte, or the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Where you go to get your connection,” she said in the interview.

Her parents have never accepted that someone can be bisexual because they believe that you can only be lesbian or gay.

Danlev / Dan Leveille., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Furthermore, Margaret Cho’s journey to bisexuality was facilitated by the people who surrounded her apart from her parents. She says that she was surrounded by people who were comfortable going against society’s norms. As a child, Cho had numerous encounters with drag queens, porn stars, go-go boys, and members of the LGBTQ+ community who helped shape her identity at a young age.

Before she became a teenager, Cho had already seen that there is more to life than being straight and accepting to be sexually attracted to the opposite gender. She grew up knowing that there are plenty of options when it comes to dating and having sexual partners. She is a woman who believes in multiple dating and would be comfortable having multiple sexual partners at the same time.

However, getting married to a man in 2003 made her sexuality questionable. She has always had to explain herself to let people know that she is bisexual, despite coming out as lesbian many years ago. She also believes in pansexuality because she feels that being bisexual has limited options.

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“Well, ‘bi’ means that there’s only two genders, so I don’t like that because I think that’s wrong,” she said. “But I do love the ‘70s sound of bisexual. It sounds very gay chic. I think it’s more about language than anything, I guess. I like the way the young people are doing it. They’re like, ‘Well, we just don’t have labels,’ which I think is fabulous,” she concluded during the interview quoting Lil Nas X and Bowen Yang as the modern faces that are pushing the boundaries of the LGBTQ+ community.

Finally, the movie star says that she is also comfortable with polygamy. She prefers being in relationships where she is free to see other people without hurting her partners. Being in simple relationships is what drives her to have romantic relationships. However, when she was asked whether she was in a polygamous relationship, Cho stated that she had been too busy to have a relationship. As she focuses on reviving the gay and lesbian history, the bisexual star also wishes that the LGBTQ+ community would start using the old controversial terms such as ‘fruit’ referring to gay and lesbian people.