Happy day two of pride month! Today I will spotlight Lani Ka’ahumanu, a Hawaiian bisexual activist who was born in 1943 and who is still fighting for bisexual people and the LGBT community today.
In 1983, she helped create BiPol (the first and oldest bisexual organization) along with Autumn Courtney, Arlene Krantz, David Lourea, Bill Mack, Alan Rockway, and Maggi Rubenstein. The organization is based in San Francisco.
In 1987, she co-founded the Bay Area Bisexual Network with Maggi Rubenstein and Ann Justi.
She wrote the first article about bisexuality featured in a national gay and lesbian magazine, which also appeared in the Civil Rights Disobedience Handbook in the 1987 Gay and Lesbian March on Washington. The article is titled “The Bisexual Movement: Are We Visible Yet?”.
She co-edited the 1991 anthology Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out with Lorraine Hutchins.
She is currently on the editorial board of the Journal of Bisexuality.
Take some time to read through her work! She’s a living LGBT elder of color who has written extensively about bisexuality, the AIDS epidemic and the attendant homophobia and serophobia of American culture, lesbian and bi women’s oppression, and has been on the frontline of feminist activism her whole life.
Every moment counts; let's capture them.