Okay, hot take? Bisexual and pansexual are functionally synonyms, and the decision to ID as one or the other comes down to personal preference and interpretation, and any attempt to further separate the two is driving a wedge between two communities that should have nothing but love and solidarity for one another. 

We have more in common than not, and the words for our respective identities should not be pitted against each other. 

Yeah with overlapping identities like this I just go for whichever one I like the pride flag the most.

That’s so valid. 

There is a distinction between pansexual and bisexual but it is a very fine line, so fine that people who fit the definition for pansexual better may ID as bisexual instead for a variety of personal reasons and vice versa. But there is a distinction and acting like they are perfect synonyms can be quite invalidating.

Bisexual - attraction to multiple genders where gender is a factor within the attraction, and can include a preference for one gender over another, or attraction that feels different when it’s directed at a specific gender.

Pansexual- attraction to people regardless of gender. Gender is not a factor, you’d expect a blanket sensation of attraction regardless of which gender it is attracted to, and no sense of intuitive gender preference (though perhaps a logical one).

Notice that neither of these definitions actually exclude transgender or non-binary people and arguing otherwise is biphobic and transphobic. But there is still a distinction - practically, the issues they face and the relationships they will end up in are the same, but emotionally and subjectively they feel different.

Me reading the first post: I totally agree 100% quit telling me that calling myself bisexual means I’m transphobic

Me reading post four: OH I never heard that distinction before. Being attracted to masculine ppl DOES feel different to me than being attracted to feminine ppl. It never occurred to me that pansexual people experienced attraction different from me in that way. Today I have learned something.

Okay, so this is a better explanation than I have seen before, and I’m really glad it crossed my dash. *throws love and support @ my bi and pan friends across the globe bc they’re all valid*

I identify as Bisexual because when I identified, Pansexual wasn’t a word and functionally didn’t exist. I’ve faced a fair amount of Biphobia from the LGBT community specifically stemming from this very issue. People who identified as Pan or Trans talked down to me because they perceived ME as Transphobic despite my first “deviant” relationship being with somebody who was Trans. Lets get the word out and be kind to one another!