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Townes Van Zandt - St. John the Gambler

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y’all remember this iconic photo?

This is Lani Ka'ahumanu, bisexual activist and co-founder of BiPOL, the first bisexual political organization in the United States.

Born to a Japanese and native Hawaiian mother and an Irish and Jewish father, she began her activism in the 1960’s in pro-civil rights and anti-Vietnam war protests. She identified as a lesbian and began her involvement in the LGBT liberation fighting for the rights of lesbian mothers. However, she would later fall in love with a (bisexual) man where she would realize her true sexuality. After a change in label, she felt shunned from mainstream lesbian and gay movement and began to push for bisexual visibility. She published the article “Biphobic: Some of my friends are” in a popular lesbian magazine in 1982 to spread awareness of biphobia within the lgbt community.

She launched a 12 city campaign for the inclusion of “bisexual” in the gay and lesbian march scheduled for 1993. Thanks to her efforts, it was renamed “March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation.” She was also scheduled as one of 18 speakers, taking her place as the only out bisexual on the panel.

Right before taking stage, she was told to cut her speech from 5 minutes to 2 because they had gone over time. She started with,

“Aloha, my name is Lani Ka’ahumanu, and it ain’t over til the bisexual speaks.”

She used her speaking time to raise awareness about the treatment of bisexuals and trans individuals, saying ..”recognition of bisexual orientation and transgender issues presents a challenge to assumptions not previously explored within the politics of gay liberation.”

Ka'ahumanu also considers herself to be a sex and body positive feminist. She created a “Peer Safer Slut Team” with Cianna Stewart, another activist, during the AIDS crisis to spread information through education workshops about safe sex for women and the lgbt community. held many educational workshops on safer sex

1993, she served as project coordinator for an American Foundation for AIDS Research grant awarded to Lyon-Martin Women’s Health Services. This is the first grant in U.S. to target young high risk lesbian and bi women for HIV/AIDS prevention/education research.

She co-authored “Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out” in 1991. This is largely considered the “bisexual bible” and helped kickstart the modern bisexual movement. She’s still alive today and doing work to promote bisexual activism and body positivity.

Sources/Further Readings:

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