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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FARGO, ND (PRAIRIE PUBLIC) - For Native Americans, gender identity has long standing traditions, including that of people who consider themselves two spirit. For more about this story, here’s Erika Lorentzsen. © Copyright 2012, Prairie Public

Please visit the following link: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/ndpr/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1890368/Prairie.Region.News/Native.American.tradition.Two.Spirit

News update posted Nov. 10, 2011
by Kate Sosin, Windy City Times
2011-11-16
http://www.windycitytimes.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=34727

The U.S. Conference on AIDS, held this year in Chicago for the first time, opened with a welcoming plenary breakfast that featured major names in HIV/AIDS prevention.
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of the Department of Health and Human Services headlined the morning.

But the moment that left many talking later in the day was a protest that interrupted the introduction of Sebelius. As Sebelius was announced with much fanfare, a large group of protesters with posters marched out and stole the microphone.

The group, protesting on behalf of Asian Pacific Islanders, demanded that their voices be heard in HIV prevention. They came bearing signs that read “Our Lives Matter.”

“We cannot to wait,” said Sharon Day of the Indigenous Peoples Task Force. “We, the first Americans, can no longer be the last in line for funding.”
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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

Angela McKenzie met up with Harlan Pruden, the co-founder of the Northeast 2 Sprit Society to talk about the historical importance of Native American Indian gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders to their indigenous culture. In 1990 after the Third Annual Inter-tribal Native American/First Nations Gay/Lesbian American Conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the American Indian LGBT community abandoned European gender and sexual orientation labels to self-identify as Two-Spirit people. Two-Spirit describes Indigenous North Americans who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles found traditionally among many Native Americans and Canadian First Nations indigenous groups.

Harlan is a member of the Cree nation from the Saddle Lake Indian Reservation in Northeasten Alberta, Canada, where he did not receive the necessary support systems to help him come to terms with his Two-Spirit identity. He now resides in New York City and is a dedicated advocate for First Nations, community organizing and progressive causes.

In this edition of Initiative Radio you will also hear a great selection of traditional Cree music and a couple of songs written by the Cree Nation’s most famous recording artist Buffy Saint-Marie.

Angela McKenzie is the Producer & Presenter of Initiative Radio

On Wednesday, June 15, over 400 of Stonewall Community Foundation’s supporters came to South Street Sea-Port’s Bridgewaters for the annual Stonewall Vision Dinner.

As a Racial Equity Initiative Grantee, the NorthEast Two-Spirit Society was given an informational table at this event to highlight NE2SS and our work to Stonewall’s supporters.

Othell Begay and Harlan Pruden served as NE2SS’ representatives.

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The documentary film “Two-Spirit” is playing on Independent Lens (PBS) AND you can actually stream it online in its entirety: http://video.pbs.org/video/1989512827

Fred Martinez was one of the youngest hate-crime victims in modern history when he was brutally murdered at 16. This documentary film explores the life and death of a boy who was also a girl, and the essentially spiritual nature of gender.

Duration: (52:50)
Premiere Date: 06/14/2011
Episode Expires: Tue 21 Jun 2011
TV Rating: TV-14
Closed Caption

Harlan Pruden, a council member for the NorthEast Two-Spirit Society, was interviewed on the WBIA’s Out-FM, a progressive lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, two-spirit news, culture, and activism.

[Listen to the broadcast]

The original air date of this show was Tuesday, April 12, 2010 at Tuesday April 12, 2011 7:00pm. This show included an interview with Michael Tikili about a new queer group called Queerocracy, a grassroots community organization working against the bureaucracy of a government that was supposed to bring us change to promote and advance social justice. Also, youth advocates Carl Sisiliano and Kate Barnhart discuss the latest budget cuts to programs benefiting homeless queer youth. Harlan Pruden on a recently released statewide needs assessment on the two-spirit population of New State, this report is the first of its kind in the country. And finally, an update on fighting the occupation of Palestine and on the LGBT Center controversy.

Nā ʻŌiwi NYC and AICH present

KE KŪLANA HE MĀHŪ:
REMEMBERING A SENSE OF PLACE

Reception and Screening with Producer Connie Florez

Wednesday, April 6, 2011 6:00PM - 9:00PM

American Indian Community House
11 Broadway, 2nd Flr, New York, NY 10004
212.598.0100

Free with a Suggested donation: $5

Talk story and meet Connie Florez, producer and historian of “Ke Kūlana He Māhū: Remembering a Sense of Place,” at a welcome reception serving light refreshments and screening of the film. This documentary explores how colonialism and cultural imperialism has profoundly effected attitudes toward gender and sexuality for indigenous Hawaiians, and marginalized Hawai’i’s multifaceted gay and transgendered communites. Following the screening, there will be a selection from Florez’s current documentary project “The Glades Project,” including a Q&A panel discussion with the producer and members of the Native American Indian Communities in NYC.

Connie Florez is the CEO of Hula Girl Productions, and the Director of Film Programming for the Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival, and a current board member and former Executive Director for the Honolulu Gay & Lesbian Cultural Foundation.

Co-sponsored by: Nā ʻŌiwi NYC and American Indian Community House

[download the pdf flyer]

White House Meeting Photo (left to right): Kory Montoya (Jicarilla Apache), Jeffery Crowley (Director ONAP), Melvin Harrison (Navajo), Carolyn Kuali`i (Native Hawaiian/Apache), Pamela Jumper Thurman (Western Cherokee), Kimberly Teehee (Obama’s Senior Policy Advisor for NA Affairs/Cherokee), Harlan Pruden (Cree) and Sharon Day (Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe)

[Download New Release PDF]

WASHIGNTON, DC – MAY 4, 2010 – After twenty-nine years into the HIV epidemic a federal inter-agency meeting was held with Indigenous Peoples. This historical meeting focused solely on Native HIV/AIDS issues with representatives of a National Coalition of 30 American Indian, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian HIV/AIDS community-based organizations and programs. This meeting discussed the need for Native inclusion in HIV funding, programs and service priorities. The Coalition’s overall objectives were to bring a Native face and voice to the domestic HIV epidemic: A face that has been invisible and a voice that has not been heard as a result of poor Native HIV/AIDS data collection. The Office of Minority Health Resource Center facilitated this meeting, which was attended by: Indian Health Service (IHS); Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the National Institute of Health (NIH); the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD).

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