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Well Wishes Arrive to Mark 20th Anniversary of International Two Spirit Gathering |
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Sep 02, 2008 at 11:02 PM |
 MINNEAPOLIS- Sept 2- Indigenous LGBT people from across North America and Hawaii convened in Sandstone, Minnesota, from August 28 to September 1 to observe two decades of grassroots success. An annual intertribal meeting of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Native community representatives has been hosted in communities from Montreal to California and Vancouver to Kansas City since 1988 reaching some 3,200 people.
“This has been an alcohol and chemical free event for 20 years and it is focused on healing, ceremony, cultural revitalization and social strengthening. What is different about this gathering is we opened it to the media for the first time. Journalists and professional film crews representing Hollywood visited with us and documented our stories, our leaders and our vision for the next two decades,” noted Richard LaFortune, national director of Two Spirit Press Room, sponsoring organization of the event.
 At the events opening, a traditional Ojibwe Water Ceremony was observed
before numerous well wishes, proclamations, congratulations and
welcomes were conveyed from Minneapolis City Hall by the City Council
and Mayor RT Ryback; in a joint letter from both chambers of the
Minnesota Legislature, officials extended an invitation for Native
participants to call upon the state for any assistance needed during
their stay in Minnesota; and US Democratic presidential candidate
Barack Obama sent a surprise greeting that caused a favorable reaction
among participants. The organizing committee for the event attempted to
reach the McCain campaign to see whether the Republican candidate also
offered a greeting for the Native participants, but the eventgoers did
not hear from Senator McCain. “We welcomed Senator Obama’s expression
of support, which we certainly hadn’t expected. It is completely
appropriate for our tribal participants to have heard from a US
presidential candidate, because the Gathering participants represent
Sovereign Nations,” stated LaFortune, “and we have always been known as
leaders among our cultures.” The annual international gathering does
not endorse or support political candidates. The poster announcing the
2008 Gathering, designed by National Endowment of the Arts fellow
Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie features a historic 1920s photograph portrait of
a respected and well-known transgender head-of-state from the
Southwest, who was recognized at the White House and admired by members
of Congress.
The University of Washington at Seattle-based HONOR Project presented a
point of first release report on a National Institutes of Health funded
initiative on mental health and well being of Native LGBT people around
the United States by Dr. Karina Walters. The rough footage of a National
Film Board of Canada documentary slated for October 2008 national
broadcast in that country by Native producer/director Lorne Olson was
previewed by the community. The post-production in progress of the
United States based documentary, The Fred Martinez Project, under the
direction of Lydia Nibley, was also screened. “Two Spirits” tells the
story of a 16 year-old transgender Navajo student in Colorado who was
brutally murdered in 2001. Both works are headed toward Sundance
International Film Festival. Sundance Film Institute collaborated with
Two Spirit Press Room in Minneapolis at a recent showing of established
and emerging Indigenous filmmakers at Walker Art Center.
Native youth suicide was highlighted as an emerging concern of great
magnitude in the Two Spirit community, in addition to unabated levels
of HIV transmission during more than a quarter of a century of the
pandemic. Escalating levels of cuts in federal funding directed to
prevention and services among Native health and human service
organizations have increasingly raised alarm across Native Country. In
2008 Native American HIV transmission rates are equaled only by
sub-Saharan Africa, it was reported at the International AIDS
Conference in Mexico City. Two Spirit Press Room presented information
about the 20th International Two Spirit Gathering at an Indigenous
pre-conference in August, at the invitation of the Ottawa based
Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network. Since 1981 AIDS has claimed 25
million people worldwide, and Native American people continue to be
disproportionately impacted by HIV.
Also discussed was the partnership of LGBT Foundations and their
relationship to Indigenous communities. Native leaders are calling for
a national symposium of Gay Funders to address significant unmet needs
for Two Spirit organizations, with the goal of immediately launching a
two-year, $1 million initiative. An international petition has secured
the support of over five hundred people from twenty countries across
the globe who agree with this proposition. The petition can be located
on the world wide web at:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/a-campaign-for-native-glbt-funding-justice.
Representatives of almost three-dozen tribes spanning the entire
continent met at this annual International Gathering of Two Spirit
people. The event usually attracts 100-150 Native people, their
partners and families annually. The Denver Two Spirit Society is
scheduled to host the event in 2009, Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 2010,
Hawaii in 2011, and Edmonton, Alberta in 2012.
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