This is a big week for Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits. The nonprofit organization is holding a delayed 25th anniversary dinner Thursday, followed by its 14th annual powwow Saturday, February 1.
BAAITS officials said both events are a testament to the organization's success in fostering community among First Nation peoples.
"It's always been a group effort," said Dr. Angel Fabian, a Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer who serves as BAAITS' executive director.
Fabian was born into the Ben'Zaa or Zapotec Indigenous group of Mexico and grew up in the Central Valley's migrant labor camps, as the Bay Area Reporter previously noted in a December article about a report detailing the needs of Two-Spirits and Indigiqueers. They first came to the Bay Area in 1991 as an undergraduate at Stanford University.
Fabian, 52, who has a master's degree in nonprofit management, said in a phone interview that given the current political climate — with recent executive orders by President Donald Trump and anti-trans legislation in red states, and in California last year — it's critical for BAAITS to exist and thrive.
"It's an often marginalized community that we work and advocate for," Fabian said. "And many folks forget the language and words that describe Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer people in this country. We have always existed on this land."
They added that colonization took First Nation and First People of the Americas "out of the sacred circle."
Today, BAAITS has a message for the LGBTQ community, Fabian said.
"We don't only want allies but we also want accomplices that will stand with us, work with us, and fight for us," they explained.
Founding
BAAITS traces its founding to 1999 with a committee of volunteers that consisted of Eugene Hightower, Ph.D.; Laura Operza; Morningstar Vancil; Sally Ramon; and Ken Harper, Fabian said.
In a phone interview, Hightower said that he attended an international Two-Spirit gathering in 1998 in Canada and had the idea to bring the event to the Bay Area the following year. Fabian said a committee was formed. Hightower said the group started meeting weekly, and the gathering took place in the fall of 1999.
As Vancil noted in a history of BAAITS, "[In 1998,] Beverly Little Thunder asked for volunteers to organize the next gathering [for 1999], and Albert Ortiz stepped up to lead, with Hightower offering his assistance. However, by September, Ortiz had to withdraw due to personal commitments. Around Thanksgiving that year, Sally Ramon and Hightower had dinner in Oakland with a medicine woman who was working in public health at UC Berkeley. This meeting led Ramon to agree to collaborate with me on planning a gathering in January 1999."
Eventually, Harper was brought on, along with Operza, Ruth Villasenor, Richard "EagleBear" Boyd, Christopher Zamora, Jaynie Lara, and T.J. SpiritHawk, according to Vancil.
"By March, after much discussion, we decided to formalize our efforts by creating an ongoing organization. ... The organization was structured democratically, allowing any self-identified Indian to participate in business meetings. ... We successfully held our 12th Two-Spirit Gathering on Labor Day weekend in 1999, and by 2005, the organization continued to grow and thrive."
One of the main intentions of starting BAAITS was to provide a sober space for members, Hightower and the organization's Facebook page noted. Hightower said there has long been issues with alcoholism in the Native American community.
Hightower is a licensed clinical psychologist and a gay Black American Indian who's descended from the Choctaw, Cherokee and Creek tribes. Connected with the psychology department at UC Berkeley, he told the B.A.R. that the American Indian community is "not monolithic anymore."
"Most, 65% to 70%, live in urban areas and don't live on reservations," he noted.
Hightower, 72, started working with gay clients in the 1970s. He did field placement at the Pacific Center for Human Growth in Berkeley and the old Operation Concern in San Francisco. He traces his activism to the gay liberation movement and Harry Hay in the late 1960s.
He explained that Two-Spirit is very specific to the American Indian community, and is the idea that men and women have both masculine and feminine parts of themselves.
"Indian attitude is to accept whatever you have," he said. "More than one spirit — Two-Spirits. The Blackfeet believe in six genders."
From that 1999 gathering, BAAITS continued to operate. Fabian pointed out that for the first 23 years, it was an all-volunteer organization. Today, Fabian is the only full-time employee and there are two part-time workers: a program manager and a wellness coordinator.
According to BAAITS' website, it is supported by a variety of foundations and groups, including Horizons, the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Tides Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the California Endowment. Its fiscal sponsors are the Queer Cultural Center and the Seventh Generation Fund. Fabian declined to disclose their salary.
As the B.A.R. reported last fall, BAAITS released its first-ever report on the needs of the Bay Area's Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer communities. Called "Living in Abundance: Report on the Needs and Strengths of Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+ Communities in the Greater Bay Area," it found that an overwhelming majority of respondents were able to access health care but many struggled to pay for their everyday needs like groceries, rent and medicines.
"Some of the preconceived notions I originally held regarding potential need within the community fell short of what the community offered. Their needs were greater, deeper, and often in completely different areas than I imagined," said Emeryville resident Maritza Castillo, 45, who worked on the report and is Two-Spirit and a detribalized Nahua-Mexica.
Dinner, powwow
BAAITS' 25th anniversary dinner is from 6 to 8 p.m. at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street.
Hightower said that one of the speakers will be Florentine Blue Thunder, a Two-Spirit medicine man who is a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe/Sicangu Lakota-Burnt Thigh Band. He follows traditional Canupa (sacred pipe) teachings. His grandmother and other elders guided and supported his efforts to realize his spiritual vision, according to his bio.
Another invited guest is Giiwedin, a charismatic Ojibwa Two-Spirit speaker.
People interested in attending should register on BAAITS' Facebook page.
The 14th annual powwow on February 1 is free and open to the public. It takes place at Fort Mason Center, Festival Pavilion, 2 Marina Boulevard. The Gourd Dance is at 11 a.m., followed by the Grand Entry at 1. Vendors will be on site.
Fabian said they expect to surpass last year's 4,000 attendees.
"That lets me know as an administrator that there's a huge need and our community is very close," they said.
There is powwow etiquette, which is available on the BAAITS website. No drugs or alcohol are allowed. Donations are accepted.
Fabian said that BAAITS remains an integral part of the Bay Area's larger LGBTQ community, and they had a message for B.A.R. readers.
"For your readership, it's being a good steward and beyond an ally — an accomplice," they reiterated. "How are you contributing? How are you supporting?"
For more information about BAAITS, click here.
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