Rainbow Rumpus at BECAUSE
by Erica Schwanke
The 14th BECAUSE (Bisexual Empowerment Conference: A Uniting, Supportive Experience) was held at Coffman Union on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis on March 28–30, 2008. While at the conference, Rainbow Rumpus staff interviewed Geraldine Slocum. We asked Geraldine to tell our readers a little about herself and her family.
Having grown up in an Irish and Spanish Catholic New York family in the '70s, Geraldine describes herself as “lucky.” Raised by two sisters, both divorced and dating, Geraldine says that she was fortunate because “race, orientation, and religion were very fluid.” Geraldine admits that there were things no one in her family talked about outside of the house or with the grandparents, but she says that this fluidity gave her the “room to choose my truths without fearing others.”
Geraldine now lives in Minnesota, where she raises her five kids: three girls ages 7, 12, and 15, and two boys ages 18 and 21. She tells us that “two of them are biracial, and one is in a wheelchair. I think my family of origin was very crucial in making me open to teaching my children to be open-minded and loving.”
