Lani Ka'ahumanu

Lani Ka'ahumanu
Occupation author, editor and health/sex educator
Nationality American
Period late 20th/early 21st century
Genre books, essays, magazine articles
Subject feminism, bisexuality, HIV/health
Literary movement feminism and LGBT rights and health and LGBT elder issues
Website
www.lanikaahumanu.com

Lani Ka'ahumanu (born October 5, 1943) is a bisexual and feminist writer and activist.[1][2] She is openly bisexual and writes and speaks on sexuality issues frequently. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Bisexuality.[3] She is also working on the books My Grassroots Are Showing: stories, speeches, and special affections and Passing For Other: primal creams and forbidden dreams – poetry, prose, and performance pieces.[3]

In 1974 she divorced her husband and moved to San Francisco, where she came out as a lesbian.[3] She helped found the San Francisco State Women Studies Department, and in 1979 she became the first person in her family to graduate from college.[3] Ka'ahumanu realized she was bisexual and came out as bisexual in 1980.[3]

In 1983 in San Francisco, Ka'ahumanu, Autumn Courtney, Arlene Krantz, David Lourea, Bill Mack, Alan Rockway, and Maggi Rubenstein founded BiPOL, the first and oldest bisexual political organization.[4][5]

In 1987 Ka'ahumanu, Ann Justi, and Maggi Rubenstein founded the Bay Area Bisexual Network.[6]

The article "The Bisexual Movement: Are We Visible Yet?", by Ka'ahumanu, appeared in the official Civil Disobedience Handbook for the 1987 March On Washington For Gay and Lesbian Rights; the march included the first nationwide bisexual gathering.[7] Her article was the first article about bisexuals and the emerging bisexual movement to be published in a national lesbian or gay publication.[7]

Ka'ahumanu is the co-editor with Loraine Hutchins of the anthology Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out (Alyson Publications, 1991). It is considered one of the seminal books in the history of the modern bisexual rights movement. Ka'ahumanu contributed the piece "Hapa Haole Wahine" to the anthology.[8] After the anthology was forced to compete in the Lambda Literary Awards under the category Lesbian Anthology, BiNet USA led the bisexual community in a multi-year campaign eventually resulting in the addition of a Bisexual category, starting with the 2006 Awards.

From 1992 until 1994, Ka'ahumanu served as project coordinator for an American Foundation for AIDS Research grant awarded to Lyon-Martin Women's Health Services. This was the first grant in U.S. history to target young high risk lesbian and bi women for HIV/AIDS prevention/education research. Ka'ahumanu also created "Peer Safer Sex Slut Team" with Cianna Stewart.[9] Her work with the Safer Sex Sluts was recognized by Ms. Magazine in 1994 in their "50 Ways To Be A Feminist" issue.[10][11]

In 1993, Ka'ahumanu spoke at the rally of the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation; she had conceived and led a successful national campaign to have bisexual people included in the title.[3][12][13] She was the only out bisexual out of 18 speakers.[3]

Also in 1993, for her 50th birthday, Ka'ahumanu wrote and modeled for Women En Large: Images of Fat Nudes (Books In Focus, 1994).[3]

In 1994, Ka'ahumanu, Elias Farajaje-Jones, Laura Perez, and Victor Raymond, all from The Indigenous Queers/Bisexual Caucus, presented “Preaching to the Perverted or Fluid Desire,” at the National HIV Prevention/Education Summit held by the Association of Physicians for Human Rights (now the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association).[4]

Since the mid-1990s she has facilitated sex and body positive workshops around the United States.[3]

In 1996, “What's bisexuality got to do with it?” training was held in conjunction with California's Lesbian, Gay and AIDS LIFE Lobby and Institute. It was coordinated by Ka'ahumanu, Stephanie Berger, Elias Farajaje-Jones, Felicia Park-Rogers, Brandon Taylor, Roland Sintos Coloma, and Cianna Stewart. Sheela Lambert produced a Bisexual Health Care Report for the NYC Dept. of Health examining barriers to service for bisexual people accessing health and mental health services. Two focus groups were conducted separately with bisexual men and bisexual women in NYC to identify issues.[4]

In 1998, BiNet USA hosted a National Institute on Bisexuality HIV/AIDS Summit with the National Gay Lesbian Health Association Conference, along with Ka'ahumanu, Lynda Doll of the Center for Disease Control, and Elias Farajaje-Jones, Luigi Ferrer, Ron Fox, Dr. Fritz Klein, Marshall Miller, Cianna Stewart and Joe Wright.[4]

In 1999, the Center for Disease Control/UCLA School of Nursing hosted a Bisexual People of Color HIV Prevention and Education Summit that was conceived by Bill Wedin and co-coordinated by Ka'ahumanu, with Elias Farajaje-Jones, Ron Fox, Karl Hamner, Dominique RosaNegra Leslie and Cianna Stewart.[4]

Ka'ahumanu was the first out bisexual to be invited and to serve on a national gay and lesbian board, and as such completed her term with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force board of directors in 2000.[3]

In 2004, Ka'ahumanu, Bobbi Keppel and the Safer Sex Sluts presented the first Safer Sex Workshop given at a joint national conference with the American Society on Aging and the National Association on Aging.[4]

Bibliography

External links

References

  1. ↑ "L a n i ' s · b i o".
  2. ↑ Cassell, Heather (June 21, 2007). "Bisexuals show increased visibility". The Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "L a n i ' s · b i o".
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "BiNet USA".
  5. ↑ "Do bisexuals have a place in the gay movement?". The Advocate. 1991. pp. 178 (of the linked collection). Retrieved August 17, 2012.
  6. ↑ "The Bay Area Reporter Online - Bisexual network
    celebrates 25 years"    . Bay Area Reporter.
  7. 1 2 http://www.lanikaahumanu.com/OUT%20OUTRAGED.pdf
  8. ↑ "b i · a n y · o t h e r · n a m e".
  9. ↑ Ordona, Trinity (2000). Coming out together: an ethnohistory of the Asian and Pacific Islander queer women's and transgendered people's movement of San Francisco. pp. 305–. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
  10. ↑ "5 0 W a y s t o b e a f e m i n i s t". Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  11. ↑ "L a n i ' s · b i o". Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  12. ↑ Hall, Donald (July 1, 1996). Presenting Bisexualities: Subjects and Cultures of Fluid Desire. NYU Press. pp. 93–. ISBN 9780814766347. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
  13. ↑ Ghaziani, Amin (October 1, 2008). The Dividends of Dissent: How Conflict and Culture Work in Lesbian and Gay Marches on Washington. University of Chicago Press. pp. 151–. ISBN 9780226289960. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
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