Kimo: Always Adapting

On September 24, 2026, Kimo, aka Conant Golden Eagle, born Steven Kimo Berman, shared an array of heartfelt reflections on his life’s journey in an interview with Lei Pua ʻAla Queer Histories of Hawaiʻi.

“I figured I’d start talking about them before I’m gone,” he said.

Raised in a hapa haole / Hawaiian family, and educated at Kamehameha and Punahou schools in the 1960s and 70s, Kimo said it was a big deal coming out to his family as a teenager in 1974 when being openly gay was loaded with cultural, religious and social disapproval.

While he found freedom in the scene beginning to emerge at Queen’s Surf Beach and built a growing circle of friends that included community organizer Bill Woods, he knew he wanted to experience more. Kimo left Hawaiʻi in 1976 and spent 36 years in California where he became involved in spiritual circles, the gay men’s chorus, HIV/AIDS activism, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and other community service groups.

His return home to care for his parents in the early 2000s revealed how profoundly the islands’ landscape had changed during his decades away and helped him appreciate his own ability to adapt to changing circumstances around him while always being true to himself.  As a long-term HIV survivor, he also reflected on the trauma and loss of that era—and the importance of preserving these memories for current and future generations.