Maggi Rubenstein

Marguerite Rubenstein (1930–2024) was an American sexologist and activist for bisexual rights. According to articles in Common Ground and the Bay Area Reporter, she has been described as the "godmother of sex education".

Early life and education Marguerite Rubenstein was born in 1930 and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Career and activism Rubenstein began her career as a nurse. She worked at the Center for Special Problems in San Francisco, where she supported sexual minorities and transgender people. She then worked as a counselor in a private practice for 40 years, After receiving her doctorate, she served as a faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. The organization provided confidential information about sex via telephone. which was headquartered in the house of American writer and LGBT activist David Lourea. In the early 1980s, she co-founded the first and oldest bisexual political organization BiPOL, with Autumn Courtney, Lani Kaʻahumanu, Arlene Krantz, David Lourea, Bill Mack, and Alan Rockway.

Rubenstein was active in the Harvey Milk Democratic Club.

Honors In 1992, Rubenstein was honored as the Community Grand Marshal at San Francisco Pride. In 2010, she received the Harry Britt Lifetime Achievement Award for her advocacy, then in 2020, received the GLBT Historical Society's History Makers Award.

Personal life Rubenstein was married twice, then came out as bisexual in 1969. When she came out to her mother, her mother said she wished Rubenstein "was a lesbian because all they do is hug". From the 1960s until her retirement, she lived in Glen Park, San Francisco. She moved to Northern California in 2017.

Rubenstein died in Red Bluff, California, on August 19, 2024.