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June will soon be over, and with it, the close of Pride Month. Events provided by SLCC’s Gender and Sexuality Student Resource Center (GSSRC) throughout the month have given students, faculty, staff and the wider community ample opportunity to celebrate and learn.
One such event was the Two-Spirit Powwow, a collaborative effort between the Urban Indian Center of Salt Lake (UICSL) and various groups at SLCC, including the GSSRC, the American Indian Student Leadership Club, the Community Writing Center and the Student Writing and Reading Center.
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| Kristina Groves (right) gives welcome from UICSL at Two-Spirit Powwow. |
The half-day family-friendly event at SLCC’s Student Center on the Redwood Campus featured non-competitive traditional and modern dance categories, called by professional emcee Eric Watchman and accompanied by Northern and Southern drum circles and singers.
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| Drum Circle at Two-Spirit Powwow. |
The grand entry processional was led by head dancers, Stephen “Makat’I” Young and Melissa Cohoe with the introduction of the powwow royalty, Mr. Montana Two-Spirit Slas Hoffer and Miss Montana Two-Spirit Eartha Quake. Navajo artist Michael Haswood, who identifies as two-spirit and gay, and uses the pronouns he/him, said he “felt honored to carry the pride flag,” in the grand entry processional. The Utah Inter-Tribal Veterans posted the U.S. colors, and Clyde M. Hall, Shoshone gave the opening blessing.
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| Dancer at Two-Spirit Powwow. |
On the patio, there were long lines to buy Navajo tacos and scones from food truck businesses selling Native American cuisine throughout the afternoon. The hallways were crammed with Native American artists displaying and selling items and community organizations promoting their services. Kristina Groves, a Ute/Hopi Native American and counselor at UICSL, who uses the pronouns she/her, said that the “purpose of a powwow is to create community, to create connection and to be able to live in our culture.” The large attendance and the lively atmosphere show that the powwow lived up to these expectations and fit UICSL’s mission to provide “resources to support and develop accessible, culturally competent healthcare programs and services.”
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| Kristina Groves and Jaqueline Shirley of UICSL |
Buffalo Barbie, a Native American powwow attendee, and dancer who identifies as two-spirit and uses the pronouns he/him said that being LGBT isn’t new for Native Americans. “We, as native Americans and Indigenous communities, have had LGBT in our communities—as part of our history and mythology for a long time,” he said. Kristina Groves gave a similar thought. “Before colonization, two-spirit people were often revered and had important roles in our communities, and after colonization, that wasn't always true,” she said. Michael Haywood noted that in his tribe, “not only we are two-spirit, but we are also seen as medicine men and medicine women and have the honor to give the names to babies that are born.”
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| Buffalo Barbie dances at Two-Spirit Powwow. |
According to the Re: Searching LGBTQ2S+ Health team at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, the word two-spirit is an umbrella term that “refers to a person who identifies as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit and is used by some Indigenous people to describe their sexual, gender and spiritual identity.” The term was first used by Elder Myra Laramee in 1990 at the Third Annual Inter-Tribal Native American, First Nations, Gay, and Lesbian American Conference and has since been adopted by many Indigenous people.
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| Dancer at Two-Spirit Powwow. |
The intersection of Native Americans and LGBTQ+ and the term two-spirit demonstrates the complexity of issues when dealing with issues of social awareness and fairness. Most people have multiple social and self-identifiers, and this extends to people in the LGBTQ+ community. Director of the GSSRC, Peter Moosman, who uses the pronouns he/they, talked about these intersections and why the collaboration with UICSL was so important. “This intersection of queerness and Indigenousness fits with what we do in the Gender and Sexuality Student Resource Center,” he said. “Queer liberation cannot happen without indigenous liberation, Black liberation, and disability liberation. All of these movements—all of these efforts, are bound together.”
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| Mom and daughter dance at Two-Spirit Powwow. |
Kristina Grove says the event is the only two-spirit powwow in the state and “a space where not only are people included but honored.” After relating the details of getting hit on the head because he identifies as a two-spirit and gay, Michael Haywood said that it was vital for him to participate in the two-spirit powwow to show others in the community that they are not alone. Attached to the front of his table displaying his art, he pinned signs that said, “You are loved, you are accepted, and you are safe here.”
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| Michael Haswood. |
Buffalo Barbie urged people to educate themselves about LGBT issues and what it means to be two-spirit. In addition to an internet search, he suggested connecting one-on-one with individuals in the two-spirit community and asking questions. “Respectfully ask community members about two-spirit and what resources they would recommend.”
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| Buffalo Barbie. |
As for future events, Peter Moosman says they look forward to continuing “to partner and collaborate with the Urban Indian Center.” They said they are hoping to hold next year’s two-spirit powwow in the Lifetime Activities Center because of the large number of people who attended this year’s event.
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