Mark DeWolfe Award 2006:Bobbi Keppel

BobBI Keppel is the bi mother of two children, one of whom is bi.

• 1987: BobBI opened the conversation with the UUA President about BGLTTQ training, both in our theological schools and retro-training for practicing ministers, which she continues today.
• 1990: BobBI co-founded the Unitarian Universalist Bisexual Network to create a safe place for bi people in the UUA, for which she has received an award from a department of the state of Maine.
• 1990-1993: BobBI co-authored the Unitarian Universalist Bi Network newsletter.
• 1993: When the Unitarian Universalist Bisexual Network merged with Unitarian Universalists for Lesbian and Gay Concerns to form Interweave Continental, BobBI designed and created an inclusive banner.
• 1993-present(2006): BobBI co-authors the "Bi Space" column that appears regularly in the Interweave World newsletter.
• At the Continental Training for the Welcoming Congregation program, there was no plan to talk about or provide resources on bisexuality, so BobBI did so.
• Many people in that training never trained any WC leaders in their home districts, as they had agreed to. BobBI and the other trainer from her district served as WC District Trainers for 10 years, doing many WC leadership trainings. When her WC training partner prepared to retire, they trained a team of people to replace them as the WC Trainers for their district.

For many years, BobBI served as coordinator for the Maine Bi People’s Network.

BobBI is always looking for new and better ways to teach what people need to know about safer sex, gender attraction, sexual orientation, and counseling bis.

For the American Society On Aging, she was lead author of the first edition of their newsletter that mentioned bisexuality. At their National Conference on Aging, she was on a 4-person panel on the difference between bi women, bi men, lesbian, and gay men. (It turned out that all 4 members of the panel were UUs!)

BobBI has done continuing education for social workers in CO, MA, ME, NE, NH.

Iowa held the first-ever State conference on BGILT Aging, at which BobBI spoke on Bisexuality and Aging.

BobBI was the first out bi to present at the annual national conference on BGILTQ aging, sponsored by SAGE, which was then Senior Action in a Gay Environment and is now Senior Aging GLBT Education.

BobBI co-authored the Scales of Sexual and Affectional Orientation and Identity, versions of which are included in the WC Handbook (2nd ed.), in OWL for Adults, and in a pamphlet at www.biresource.org which she co-authored on teaching about sexuality.

BobBI does safer sex education and outreach with the Bi Health Project of Fenway Community Health, in Boston, including participating in developing the pamphlet Safer Sex for Bis. BobBI has been trained as a trainer for OWL for Adults, and looks forward to putting together the first OWL for Adults training for her district.

BobBI has served as an out bi member of the boards of both the Matlavich Society and the Same-Sex Domestic Violence Task Force in Maine, as well as several years on the board of the Bisexual Resource Center. She has worked as an out bi on all BGLTQ-related legislative initiatives in Maine.

BobBI is also author of:

• “Gray Haired and Above Suspicion” in the ground-breaking anthology Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out.
• A piece in the anthology Getting Bi: Bisexual Voices Around The World, with nearly 200 authors from 32 countries. BobBI’s picture appears on the cover.
• BobBI is also author of TWO chapters on “Bisexuality And Aging” for TWO different books on counseling and therapy with bis across the lifespan. Both books will be issued in 2006 or 2007.