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 |
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Lani Ka'ahumanu (born October 5, 1943) is a bisexual and feminist writer and activist. She is openly bisexual and writes and speaks on sexuality issues frequently. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Bisexuality. 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.
In 1974, she divorced her husband and moved to San Francisco, where she originally came out as a lesbian. 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. Ka'ahumanu realized she was bisexual and came out again, this time as bisexual+ in 1980.
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.
In 1987, Ka'ahumanu, Ann Justi, and Maggi Rubenstein founded the Bay Area Bisexual Network.
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. Her article was the first article about bisexuals and the emerging bisexual movement to be published in a national lesbian or gay publication.
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. 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.
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