June 17 marked an historic moment in
Minnesota Indian Country: the first Two Spirit LGBT Awareness Day on
the Leech Lake Reservation and the first visit by OutFront Minnesota,
the state’s leading organization supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender equality, to a Minnesota reservation.
The celebration, which drew more than
50 guests took place on the front lawn of the Leech Lake Housing
Authority in Cass Lake, Minn. Under sunny skies, guests listened to
speakers and guitarist Michael Lyons, while eating a buffet lunch of
BBQ pork, wild rice, baked beans, fresh fruit and vegetables and fry
bread – all topped off by a colorful rainbow cake.
The festivities were the brainchild of
tribal member Julie Kurschner-Pineda, an attempt – she explained –
to counter some of the suffering she has seen Two Spirit tribal
citizens endure. “A lot of our people are striving to be loved and
that’s what this is all about,” she said.
The celebration was not without
controversy. Kurschner-Pineda, who manages the Leech Lake Homeless
Resource Program, reported that she received a number of complaints
but prominent tribal leaders attended the event, including council
member LeRoy Staples Fairbanks, III, who said he was encouraged to
attend by a tribal elder and Megan Treuer, who spoke in her official
capacity as an associate tribal judge.
Treuer explained that while the Leech
Lake legal code does not explicitly address LGBT issues, “We are
required to use traditional teachings and can seek input from
spiritual advisors.” So when tribal member Arnold Dahl sought to
marry his long-time partner Matthew Wooley in November 2013, Treuer
explained that Leech Lake’s chief tribal judge was able to
officiate at the marriage by relying on traditional teachings that
hold that, “everyone is equal and everyone should be treated with
respect.” She noted that the Leech Lake tribal court was one of the
first tribal courts to perform a same-sex marriage ceremony.
“It wasn’t a shameful thing long
ago. It was a gift. Before we were colonized, we understood Two
Spirit people are chosen by the Creator,” Eric Shepherd, a member
of the management team of Leech Lake Housing Authority who has a
brother who is Two Spirit, said.
A champion fancy dancer who grew up in
a traditional Dakota family, Shepherd said there is one exception
made to the tradition of taking new dance regalia to the sweat lodge
to have it blessed, “If a Two Spirit person made it, it’s already
blessed because they are blessed.”
However, with the suppression of these
traditional teachings has come a void. The lack of understanding many
LGBT people endure took on a personal face for Kurschner-Pineda when
her daughter came out to her. Kurschner-Pineda recalled waiting in
line to order pizza at Little Caesar’s in St. Paul when her
daughter asked, “Can my girlfriend come over this weekend?”
Distracted by figuring out the order,
Kurschner-Pineda gave a quick yes. But her daughter did not take that
perfunctory yes for an answer. “Mom, look at me – my
girlfriend-girlfriend,” Kurschner-Pineda recalled her daughter
saying.
Although stunned and unsure how to
react, Kurschner-Pineda said she embraced her daughter and told her
she loved her no matter what. “I reacted accepting,” she said,
“but I still didn’t really understand.” That quest to more
fully personally comprehend the LGBT experience was part of her
motivation in organizing the celebration.
Kurschner-Pineda’s co-organizer,
Arnold Dahl-Wooley, who owns the Big Winnie Store, RV Park &
Campground in Bena, found his motivation in the calls he regularly
receives from tearful local high school students who are struggling
with their sexual orientation or gender identity. “They need to
hear that there’s nothing wrong with them,” he said.
As a young man growing up on the
reservation, Dahl-Wooley saw the harassment that those who were gay
or perceived to be gay faced and made a practical calculation to hide
his identity. But the effort required to “walk and talk the right
way” he found “exhausting.”
After graduating from Bemidji State
and moving to Eugene, Ore., Dahl-Wooley had the opportunity to live
in an accepting culture. “I didn’t know I could be myself,” he
said with wonder. But returning to the reservation to take over his
father’s business, Dahl-Wooley found himself “stepping back in a
time machine” on the subject of LGBT acceptance. “It was all very
taboo,” he said. “No one wanted to discuss it.”
The Two Spirit LGBT Awareness Day is
“opening the door for discussion,” which Dahl-Wooley hopes will
lead to area schools beginning to provide support. But some young
people are already taking the cue.
As she was helping staff the buffet
line, Valerie Robinson, Leech Lake homeless youth case manager, saw
something she hadn’t seen before at a public event on the
reservation: “Two teen males came up to get something to eat and
they were holding hands and laughing.
“It made an impression on me,”
Robinson said, noting that same-sex couples on the reservation are
not generally so open. “It was good to see happy people.”
PHOTO: Two Spirit Awareness Day co-organizers Julie Kurschner-Pineda and Arnold Dahl eating a rainbow cake. (Courtesy photo)
