Black bisexual activist Dr. Ibrahim Abdurrahmani Farajaje—the provost and professor of cultural studies at the Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California—died Feb. 9 at age 63.
BiNet USA co-founder Lani Ka’ahumanu said in a statement, “One of our dearest most brilliant, fierce, outspoken, loving, gentle, and fun/ny queer bisexual beings—The Reverend Dr. Ibrahim Farajaje—has passed.
“A towering talent, an intellectual genius and a kind hearted teacher beloved by many, Dr. Farajaje’s writing on the decolonization of queer theory ‘took off where Audre Lorde left off.’ Like Lorde and her dear friend the Black bisexual poet June Jordan, Dr. Farajaje transitioned too soon from this life to the next.”
In 1995, Farajaje and his family were featured in a groundbreaking cover story on bisexuality for Newsweek. Last year, he helped facilitate a conference that had LGBTQ clergy from across the nation gathering in Portland, Oregon, to collectively create of a plan to engage hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ people from diverse spiritual traditions in the “Black Lives Matter” movement.