David Lourea

David Nachman Lourea (August 26, 1945–November 10, 1992) was an American writer, AIDS activist, and bisexual rights activist.

He was raised as Orthodox Jewish, and was openly bisexual.

In 1967, he earned a B.F.A. from Temple University; he later earned a Ph.D. from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. He was involved with San Francisco Sex Information after moving to that city in 1973, and was one of the early members of the San Francisco Bisexual Center (which was active from 1976 to 1985). In 1981, he and Cynthia Slater "presented safer-sex education workshops in bathhouses and BDSM clubs in San Francisco." In 1984, he finally persuaded the San Francisco Department of Public Health to recognize bisexual men in their official AIDS statistics (the weekly "New AIDS cases and mortality statistics" report), after two years of campaigning. Health departments throughout the United States began to recognize bisexual men because of this, whereas before they had mostly only recognized gay men. He was also one of the founders of Bisexual Counseling Services.

He died in 1992 from kidney failure associated with AIDS.

The David Lourea Papers, 1940–1992, are held at the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center in the San Francisco Public Library.

Childhood and Adolescence (1946 - 1964)

David Lourea grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which was very antisemitic area in the 1950's, and confessed to feeling "terrified" of his bisexuality as a young man as he didn't know what it meant and never heard the word bisexual until he was 26 years old. David said he "Learned to become comfortable with his bisexuality through his religion" thanks to his grandmother's encouragement.

"My grandmother taught me its okay for me to be Jewish even though the rest of the world doesn't think that, which made it easier to get that I'm alright for being a minority within a minority, although I don't think my grandmother was trying to make me feel better about being bisexual" - David Lourea in "Bay Area Bisexual History: An Interview with David Lourea" Bisexual Politics, Tucker 1995

Bay Area Bisexual Movement (1973 - 1984)

In 1973 David who was also a teacher and his wife Lee moved to the bay area as they were seeking a bisexual community stating "If a bi movement was going to happen, it would begin here." - David Lourea

David and Maggie Rubinstein began working together after a meeting in her attic in 1973. David worked with Maggie Rubinstein to create the San Francisco Bisexual Center, which coincidentally opened its doors to the public on September 23, 1976. (23 years later bi activist Micheal Page would unknowingly pick this same day to create Bisexual Visibility Day in 1999)

The team was hopeful that they could gain acceptance in the gay and lesbian community they felt that they would appear be non-threatening, and that would be enough. Unfortunately this was a time when the "Bisexual Chic" fad was happening causing an uphill battle as the bisexual center hosted all sorts of events and workshops on gender to exhibitions, and performances. Their membership spiked from 150 members to 450 quickly due to media exposure from fighting the Briggs initiative.

The Briggs Initiative disallowed gay and lesbian teachers from working in public schools in California. Laws like The Briggs Initiative don't exclusively discriminate against gay people however. David was himself a preschool teacher so this directly affected his life as "obviously bisexuals don't get half of a job, they get fired." Homophobes don't half love bisexuals as the general consensus in either the gay or straight communities has been the only "good bisexual is a closeted bisexual."

The bisexual center team was made up of quite a few political radical bisexuals and believed In a policy of inclusion of all human rights were important to them, they were feminist, anti-racist, anti-classist, anybody who identified as a woman had the right to be there so a lot of transgender people started coming to the bi center. The bi center even ran ads in transgender magazine's about gender workshops such as in the February edition of "The Gateway" Vol 2, 1980

"There were a lot of transvestites and transsexual who came to the bi center because they knew they weren't going to be turned away because of the way they dressed" -David Lourea

AIDS Activism (1980's)

In the 1980's as AIDS because more prominent the bi center hosted programs for safer sex at Gay bath houses even when officials wanted to close them down to slow transmission rates. The bi center disagreed as it was the best way to teach men who had sex with men how to have safer sex to protect themselves and how to enjoy safe sex. In 1984 David Lourea finally persuaded the San Francisco Department of Public Health to recognize bisexual men in their official AIDS statistics, after two years of campaigning. Health departments throughout the United States began to recognize bisexual men because of this, whereas before they had mostly only recognized gay men.

David Lorea continued his work as a sex educator all through the 80's and into the first part of the 90's before he himself died due to AIDS related complications.

Death And Remembrance (1992)

In 1992 David Lourea would pass away due to AIDS related kidney failure in 1992. He was 47 years old. As Naomi Tucker put it...

"His absence was incomprehensible. The eclectic crowd of those who came to mourn his death, teachers, young children, AIDS activists, bi activists, leather daddy's, sex radicals, therapist, rabbis, and family members, was testimony to how instrumental David was in bringing communities together." - David Lourea in "Bay Area Bisexual History: An Interview with David Lourea" Bisexual Politics, Tucker 1995

As a tribute to David Loureas' memory, Naomi Tucker wrote in her dedication page in her book; Bisexual Politics: Theories, Queries, and Visions

...To the memory of David Lourea, which inspired the revolutionary in so many of us... and to those who have struggled and put their lives on the line so that we could come out and be free... with pride, rage, sisterhood, and love

Publications of David Lourea

• '"Beyond Bisexual," in Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out, ed. Loraine Hutchins and Lani Kaʻahumanu, Boston: Alyson Pub., 1991, ISBN 1555831745.
• "Psychological aspects of bisexuality. Psycho-social issues related to counseling bisexuals", in Bisexualities : theory and research, ed. Dr. Fritz Klein and Timothy J. Wolf, New York: Haworth Press, 1985, ISBN 0866563369; also published as Journal of Homosexuality, volume 11, numbers 1/2, spring 1985.
• "HIV Prevention: A Dramaturgical Analysis and Practical Guide to Creating Safer Sex Interventions" (with Clark L. Taylor), in Rethinking AIDS prevention : cultural approaches, ed. Ralph Bolton and Merrill Singer, Philadelphia : Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, 1992, ISBN 2881245528, originally published in volume 14, numbers 2-4 of the journal Medical Anthropology.

Further reading

• Naomi Tucker, "Bay Area Bisexual History: An Interview with David Lourea," in Bisexual Politics: Theories, Queries, and Visions, Harrington Park Press/Haworth Press 1995, ISBN 1560249501, pp. 47–61.
• Andrea Sharon Dworkin, "Bisexual Histories in San Francisco in the 1970s and Early 1980s", Journal of Bisexuality, Volume 1, Issue 1, 2000, pages 87– 119.