Remembering Lottie Dingle, founder of bi+ organisation Biscuit

The bi+ advocacy group announced the death of its founder on Monday, 12 September

BY DIVA STAFF, IMAGE BY PEXELS

Bi advocacy group Biscuit has announced the death of its founder, Lottie Dingle. A statement shared via Twitter on Monday, 12 September read: “We are devastated to hear of the death of our founder Lottie Dingle. She was an astonishing woman. Thank you for your work, Lottie.”

A powerhouse within the LGBTQI community, Lottie was the editor of g3 from 2009 to 2011. In 2013, she became editor of Freedom Press and in 2014, she founded Biscuit. She was listed at number 48 in the Pride Power List 2011. Across her career, she worked for organisations including Crisis, The Green Party of England and Wales, Action on Hearing Loss and London Sustainability Exchange, and was a Senior Features Writer at Out News Global. She studied an MA in Creative Writing at Brunel University London. Up until the time of her death, she was working on a full-time PhD employing elements of queer and feminist theory focused on a historiographic metafiction about the Sumerian/Akkadian princess, High Priestess and poet Enheduanna.

Biscuit is a bi advocacy group that works to support the bi+ community with a focus on women and other marginalised genders. Bringing visibility, advocacy and community, Biscuit has been at the centre of the bisexual community, supporting local activists by providing resources for meet-up groups, lobbying within the LGBTQ+ community on behalf of bi+ stakeholders and representing the community at Pride events nationwide.

In 2019, Biscuit issued billboards for Bi Visibility Day, later launching Twitter account @OurBiSecrets to house anonymous confessions from bi+ people. Over the years, Biscuit has held picnics and breakfasts, had booths at Pride events, undertaken research projects, produced resources, given talks, run workshops and organised an array of visibility projects. It has provided guidance and support to writers and journalists, collaborating with other bi advocacy organisations including Bisexual Index and BWithTheT.

In 2021, Biscuit led the bi+ community boycott of Pride in London. In 2020, it led the project that raised 25 billboards nationwide celebrating Bi Visibility Day and co-authored the open letter that began with the BWithTheT movement. In 2019, it produced its first leaflet: Bisexuality – What you wanted to know but didn’t know who to ask (a guide for questioning people). In 2018, it drove the first-ever bisexual community float as part of Pride in London’s parade, and in 2016, Biscuit appeared on BBC Woman’s Hour.

If you would like to support Biscuit and continue Lottie’s incredible legacy, please browse their products on Etsy. The money it raises covers its everyday running costs including website hosting, printing postcards and literature and posting resources to those that request them. It also allows Biscuit to pay for the copy editor, writers, designers and drivers that work with them.

Lottie’s untimely death is a huge loss to LGBTQI activism. Dedicating her life’s work to raising awareness of bisexuality and bi+ issues, she made the world a better, more equal place. That is an incredible legacy to have, and together at DIVA, we send our utmost support and sympathies to Lottie’s loved ones during this time.

Thank you, Lottie. Your love and light are eternal.

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