Two Spirits

Ruth Fertig 2007 22 min. USA

Joey Criddle is a Two Spirit man fighting with other LGBTQ Native Americans to reclaim the place of honor that many Two Spirits once held prior to colonization. The film follows Joey as he leads parallel lives - one as a co-director of the Two Spirit Society of Denver and the other as a father attending the Mississippi wedding of his Pentecostal son. Joey’s words bridge the gap between the closeted man he was in Mississippi and the Two Spirit activist he is today.

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Here’s another two spirit webinar hosted by Community of Practice. Go to SAMHSA Suicide Prevention Grantee Archived Webinars 2011 and look at the materials under “Tribal Learning Collaborative- Supporting & Outreaching to Our Native LGBTQQ/Two-Spirit Youth Presentation” (7/11/11). The two presenters are Karina Walter and Sharon Day.

Calling all young two-spirit to represent in the We R Native. Who are You? contest sponsored by Project Red Talon, Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board - open to American Indian and Alaska Native youth 13-21 years old. A link to a flier about the contest is below.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-R-Native/We R Native. Who are You?
Send us a photograph, video, paragraph, drawing, song, or text message that expresses who you are. Tell us about your life, your Nation, your family, your community, your values, your interests and hobbies, or whatever else defines you.

Winning entries will receive: $75 (1st place), $50 (2nd place), $25 (3rd place), and will be showcased on We R Native’s website – coming in early 2012!

The contest is open to American Indian and Alaska Native youth 13-21 years old. Send entries to: native@npaihb.org Entries are due by Dec 18, 2011.

Learn more at: http://www.npaihb.org/images/We_R_NativeContest.pdf

To learn more about weRnative, please:
Join the text messaging service: Text “NATIVE” to 24587
Like the Facebook© page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-R-Native/
Subscribe to the YouTube© Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/weRnative
Join the email listserve: Text “YouthNews” to 22828

we-r-native-who-are-you-contest.pdf

Oglala Sioux Tribe
PROCLAMATION OF THE OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE IN SUPPORT OF TWO-SPIRIT DIGNITY & HUMAN RIGHTS

WHEREAS, the unity of cultures across time have embraced the concept of inalienable human rights that derive from our relationship to nature; and, on this 24th day of October 2011 the Oglala Sioux Tribe acknowledges Richard Noble and the grassroots LGBT Civil Rights Movement; and

WHEREAS, a central tenant of United States law is the principle of
non-discrimination and equal protection under the law as human rights; and

WHEREAS, members of the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgendered – and the two-spirits of this world – face historical and ongoing community rejection, political stigmatization and institutional discrimination based on their innate nature, causing untallied human tragedy, emotional detachment and suffering so extreme that many commit suicide; and

WHEREAS, members of the grassroots LGBT community seek, via the American Equality Bill, to add “sexual orientation and gender identity” equally to all of America’s non-discrimination laws, both to advance this urgent cause for justice, and to protect the inherent right of each person to develop consistent with their natural sexuality and gender as their authentic self, safely and with appropriate cultural dignity and respect; and

WHEREAS, the American Equality Bill reflects the Government’s duty to provide protection from discrimination for all people as a matter of public welfare, and the human rights duty to ensure legal equality for LGBT people under federal law in order to rebuke homophobia and transphobia with the full force of official United States governmental policy, including via the expenditure of all federal funds under Title VI; and

WHEREAS, it is time to ignite the civil rights movement of the 21st Century to liberate the LGBT community in America, in order to reach every community, leaving no child anywhere alone suffering with discrimination or social rejection; and

WHEREAS, from March to October, 2011, Richard “Rainbow” Noble will traverse the country from West Hollywood to Washington D.C. on the Civil Rights March Across America with a sacred Rainbow flag and staff to raise the collective call for freedom, showing remarkable braver and dedication to his people; and

NOW, THEREFORE, the President John Yellow Bird Steele of the Oglala Sioux Tribe here by calls upon all of humanity to rise in support of the liberation of our two-spirit brothers and sisters from social and legal discrimination, and to urge all official representatives to take urgent action to protect their human rights with the full inclusion of “sexual orientation and gender identity” under all of America’s Civil Rights laws.

THEREFORE, I, John Yellow Bird Steele, hereby declar on this 24th day of October to honor and continue a collaborative effort with Congress for full federal equality and Civil Rights LGBT Omnibus Bill.

JOHN YELLOW BIRD STEELE
President
Oglala Sioux Tribe

October 4-5, 2001, NE2SS’ Harlan Pruden and Ben Geboe were joined by some of the leaders of the Two-Spirit Society of Denver, Amiee Wilson, Hiram Calf-Looking and Nate Jarosch, in Rapid City, SD to lend their support to the “Two-Spirit Then and Now: Reclaiming Our Place of Honor.” This is training based on the publication: Provider’s Introduction to Substance Abuse Treatment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Individuals and was offered and supported by the Prairieland Addiction Transfer Technology Center.

The training was well attended with 24 attendees from tribal, academic, and IHS clinics; reservation based hospital staff; representatives of the Administration of Health and Human Services;  and local community leaders. The training enhanced the knowledge of participants and built skills so that sensitive, affirmative, culturally relevant, and effective treatment may be offered to LGBT/Two-Spirit individuals struggling with substance use disorders.

It was also a goal of both the leadership of the NorthEast Two-Spirit Society and the Two-Spirit Society of Denver that this greatly needed endeavor will be the first of many Two-Spirit trainings offered in the Dakotas. It was also NY and Denver’s hope that this work will result in the founding of a Two-Spirit Society somewhere in the North or South Dakotas. Because of Denver’s relative closeness to South Dakota, as compared to NYC, they have offered to be a local resource for the attendees and NE2SS would also be available to help but more in an electronic capacity.

This training in Rapid City was a part of a larger initiative by the University of Iowa’s Prairieland Addiction Transfer Technology Center.  This training is the last in a series offered in North and South Dakotas. In September, Harlan and Ben traveled to Bismarck, ND and conducted this training at United Tribes Technology College and then in Sioux Falls, SD. Similar to the Rapid City training, both were well attended and participants were engaged and expressed the need for more information on Two-Spirit people, so they can be better frontline service providers when working with their Two-Spirit communities.