Bay Area Bi+ & Pan Network (BABPN), previously known as Bay Area Bisexual Network (BABN), is a social and networking group in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. It is the oldest and largest

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

group in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 1987 BABN has welcomed people who are just

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

or new to the area to have opportunities to meet and talk with other bisexuals and pansexuals.

History

Founded in 1987, BABN was the successor to the San Francisco Bisexual Center, which closed in 1984. Its founding was inspired by the 1987 East Coast Bisexual Network Conference, and it was founded by

Lani Ka'ahumanu Lani is a given name. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Lani Belcher (born 1989), British canoeist * Lani Billard (born 1979), Canadian actress and singer * Lani Brockman (born 1956), American theater actress and director * L ...

, Ann Justi and Maggi Rubenstein. For nearly 10 years, BABN coordinated a speaker's bureau, a newsletter, retreats, and monthly cultural and educational forums. BABN’s phone line offered one of very few ways for isolated bisexuals to find and connect with the

bisexual community The bisexual community, also known as the bi+, m-spec, bisexual/pansexual, or bi/pan/fluid community, includes members of the LGBT community who identify as bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, polysexual and sexually fluid. As opposed to hetero- ...

. Bi-Friendly was founded by BABN in 1988 as a way for bisexual and bi-friendly people to meet and socialize outside of bars and activist meetings. The group sponsored brunches, trips to the redwoods, movies, plays, baseball games, etc. BABN is holding Bi-Friendly meetings as of 2012. In June 2019, BABN changed its name to Bay Area Bi+ & Pan Network (BABPN). They were the publisher of ''

Anything That Moves ''Anything That Moves'' was a literary, journalistic, and topical magazine published in the United States from 1990 to 2001. The magazine's mission was to confront and redefine concepts of sexuality and gender, to defy stereotypes and broad defin ...

'' magazine during its run from 1990 to 2002.

Services

BABN provides support to the bisexual community, including a website and links to resources. BABN also has two email lists: One low-volume, moderated list for events of interest to the bisexual community, and a second, unmoderated list for open discussion. For hundreds of bisexual people, the email lists are their only contact to the bi community. BABN also has social networking groups on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

tribe.net tribe.net (often shortened to "tribe") was a website that hosted an online community, or tribe of friends, similar to other social networking sites. The site name was always spelled in all lower case. As of February 2017 the site content is inacc ...

, and others. A calendar of events is the most-used feature of the BABN website.

References

External links

Official website
* BABN email list sign-ups
EventsChat

Bisexual Resources
1987 establishments in California Bisexual culture in the United States Bisexual organizations LGBT organizations in the United States LGBT history in San Francisco Organizations established in 1987 Pansexuality {{DEFAULTSORT:Bay Area Bi+ and Pan Network

History

Services

See also

References

External links