Written by:
Kazia Johnson
Photographer:
Debra St. John
Words to Live Bi
In 1976, Lani Ka'ahumanu, former housewife and mother of two, cam out as a lesbian to a welcoming community in San Francisco. In 1980, after having lived as an out lesbian for four years, she fell in love and had to come out a second time--as bisexual.
This time, she found little support in her community for her life or her new love, but she refused to go back into the closet. In the mid-1980s, she set to work on a new project-- a "coming out" book for bisexual people called Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out (Loraine Hutchins co-editor; Alyson, 1991).
"Life is about coming out-- and not just your sexual identity. There's always that moment when you have to speak your truth," she says.
These days, Ka'ahumanu is a favorite on the lecture circuit as "Head Matron Slut" for the Safer Sex Sluts, an education-based performance troupe. She was named to the NGLTF's board of directors in 1997, and is currently
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