Indigenous 2SLGTBQ+ people find Pride within culture, tradition and community

Supporters of Navajo Nation Pride march as part of the pride parade held on June 29, 2024, in Window Rock. Photo by Shondiin SIlversmith | Arizona Mirror

Throughout June, cities and communities across the country honored the LGBTQ+ community with Pride celebrations. Some of the biggest celebrations typically occur in large cities such as New York or Los Angeles, focusing on the Western perspective of pride.

For many in the United States, Pride started in 1969 with the Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan , where a series of events between police and LGBTQ+ protesters stretched over six days and led to a fundamental change for LGBTQ+ people.

But, for many Indigenous two spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning plus people, Pride started way before Stonewall.

Before colonization nearly destroyed Indigenous culture and tradition, there were communities where Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ individuals were viewed as pillars of their community.

The Navajo people historically recognized more than two genders, and nádleehi is considered a third gender in which individuals may display male and female characteristics.

Navajo creation stories speak of the Nádleehí, and they are discussed in stories surrounding the separation of the sexes. They were often considered mediators and negotiators within Navajo society and were skilled at many things, like weaving and holding sacred ceremonial knowledge.

“We’ve learned how to encompass these gay pride celebrations in a Western lens,” Diné trans advocate Mattee Jim said. “But how do we incorporate the traditional teachings?”

Jim is originally from Tse’na’oshi’jiin on the Navajo Nation, a small community about 7 miles north of Church Rock, New Mexico.

She has spent more than 25 years advocating for the 2SLGBTQ+ community and is the supervisor for the HIV Prevention Programs for First Nations Community HealthSource in Albuquerque.

Jim remembers when she was younger and getting “caught up” in Western perceptions of Pride, which often include rainbow flags, huge Pride events or buying gay literature.

“As I got older, especially being Indigenous and being myself and how I identify, it’s changed a lot,” Jim said. “I tell people I identify first and foremost as a Diné person before I identify as a Western Native trans woman.

“I’m of my people first and foremost.”

Jim admits it took work to get to this point. She had to guide herself into that way of thinking and reconnect with her culture as a Diné person.

“We do have a rainbow,” Jim said. “We have náátsʼíílid , which is that gateway to the next world.”

Náátsʼíílid is the Navajo word for rainbow, and within Navajo culture, the rainbow is believed to be how the Holy people communicate with the Diné people.

“There are certain symbolizations that are within our Native culture that is our identity and who we are, which could relate to gay pride stuff,” Jim said. “I look at it in that sense, in a traditional conception and the values.”

Jim said seeing Pride evolve within Indigenous communities has impacted Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ people in many ways. She sees it primarily in how people can unite as a community and be who they are.

Navajo Nation Pride

The rainbow colors complimented the cloudy skies at the Navajo Nation Capitol, where pride flags lined the streets leading to the Window Rock Tribal Park and Veterans Memorial, where people came together to celebrate the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

“It’s more than a rainbow flag,” Navajo Nation Pride Executive Director and Co-Founder Alray Nelson said, adding that their pride celebration is a way to remind everyone that in Diné culture, human beings are viewed as scared.

“It’s OK to be who you are,” Nelson said. “You’re a sacred human being, no matter if you’re gay, you’re lesbian, you’re trans, you’re bisexual, you may be questioning, you may identify as queer — it’s OK to be who you are.”

Navajo Nation Pride is one of the largest Indigenous gay pride celebrations in the United States. On June 29, nearly 2,000 people gathered in Window Rock to celebrate the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

The theme for 2024 Navajo Nation Pride is Ayóó Ánóshní , which means “love is sacred” in Navajo. Ayóó Ánóshní is seen as the pillar of love that blesses the existence of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and two-spirit Indigenous people in the United States.

San Carlos Apache Drag Performer Leslie D. Lewinsky is part of the Navajo Nation Pride organization, and has also performed at the Pride events several times.

Lewinsky said performing and being with the community at Navajo Nation Pride is a fantastic experience that gives hope to the younger generations.

Lewinsky, 34, said they never had access to this community growing up. They always went off the San Carlos Reservation to participate in Pride events, and it has been a challenge to start something within their own community.

Lewinsky said they have been trying to host a pride event on the San Carlos Apache Reservation for the last five years but have been unsuccessful at every turn.

“Nobody wants to hold it in any of the buildings,” they said. “They keep telling me to go to a bar in town or the casino where all the other bad stuff happens.”

Lewinsky said it’s challenging because all they want is to show the tribe that 2SLGBTQ+ people are just people who want to be part of the community. This is why Lewinsky joined Navajo Nation Pride and has helped the organization through the years.

Lewinsky said that events like Navajo Nation Pride are vital because they give hope to all those who cannot do so within their tribal communities.

“It gives me so much hope (and) hope for my tribe,” they added, and they hope that Indigenous youth can see that pride can happen within their tribal community.

“I want to be the inspiration that you can live on the rez and be who you are,” Lewnisky said. “You can be on the rez and be amazing.”

Nelson never imagined that Navajo Nation Pride would grow at the rate it has or garner as much support from the community as it has, especially because many still feel that pride is controversial.

The Navajo Nation has no laws devoted to anti-discrimination or hate crimes concerning Navajo 2SLGBTQ+ people living on tribal lands.

The Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission reported in 2016 that the Navajo Bill of Rights guarantees the rights of all Navajo citizens regardless of sex, and any entities that receive federal or state funding on the Navajo Nation must follow the anti-discrimination mandates.

The commission recommended that Navajo Nation leaders enact laws and policies to protect people regardless of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

In 2005, the Navajo Nation implemented the Diné Marriage Act , which outlaws same-sex marriage. Several efforts have been made to overturn the act , but no legislation has succeeded.

Nelson said the work Navajo Nation Pride does today was only possible with the Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ community that came before them.

They were the community that has always been at the front lines, Nelson said, and they were often beaten by the police, discriminated against or had their lives taken because they were either ostracized or kicked on the streets by their family and loved ones.

“They’re the first ones that built that foundation for us to even have Pride events,” Nelson said, and he is thankful to them for taking on the scars, bruises and wounds for them to be where they are today.

There was a time when pride within the Navajo Nation was more underground.

Virgil Smith, 71, from Tohatchi, New Mexico, remembers when the 2SLGBTQ+ community would come together and have drag shows in the middle of nowhere, using their vehicles’ headlights as a spotlight.

Today, Jim said the Navajo Nation Pride celebration is being held in the capital, and the Navajo Nation Police are protecting the community.

“There’s that huge progression from being more fearful versus now, where it’s more out and open,” Jim said. “I’m a strong, Native, transgender woman because of that progression of advocacy.”

Jim said she remembers when their community experienced harsh discrimination, verbally and physically. She remembers there was a time when she would have to get in physical fights to prove that she could protect herself constantly.

Jim said it was challenging, but the community worked through it and found safe spaces to gather and be themselves.

“We beam with pride in so many different ways,” she said.

Indigenous Pride celebrations growing

More Indigenous communities are starting to host their own Pride events.

“The only advice we can always give these organizations is that it has to be built closely with the community,” Nelson said.

Looking at Navajo Nation Pride, Nelson said that a majority of the people who attend the event and are involved in its planning are Indigenous and people of color. The organization does not focus on corporate sponsorships like many larger pride events.

“We want it to be community-focused and driven directly from funding by our community,” he added, and it’s taken them a lot of work to get Navajo Nation Pride to where it is today.

In Arizona, alongside the Navajo Nation, people from the Tohono O’odham Nation , the Hualapai Tribe , and the Ak-Chin Indian Community have hosted pride events for their community members. The Tohono O’odham Nation is the only tribe in Arizona to sign a proclamation recognizing June as LGBTQ+ Pride month .

Hualapai Pride Organizer Vonda Beecher said they’re still a very new organization, but they launched because she recognized it was something needed within their community for a long time.

Beecher said it has been a slow process, but she believes they will do a lot of good as long as they keep the momentum going.

The Hualapai Tribe is a small tribe located in Peach Springs, Arizona, with about 1,400 tribal members living on tribal land.

Beecher said that she is proud of the Hualapai tribal members who have been willing to put themselves out there and are not afraid to say they are allies and supporters of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

“I want our kids to be safe and to not be afraid of who they are,” she said, adding that she knows firsthand what it feels like.

Beecher said when she was a kid, she didn’t have access to community events celebrating the 2SLGBTQ+ community, especially Indigenous-led events.

“I know what we need in our community, which is why I’m advocating for it, because I don’t want kids to ever have to feel the way I did,” she added.

Hualapai Pride will host their third celebration on National Coming Out Day in October.

On the Tohono O’odham Nation, Indivisible Tohono hosted its fourth annual Pride celebration in Sells featuring information booths, vendors and a drag show.

“I never imagined that could be something that’s here at home,” Angel Manuel said. Growing up, she said she never felt she had that support within the community.

Manuel is a transgender Tohono O’odham woman and said she is grateful for the 2SLGBTQ+ allies within Indivisible Tohono who came together to host Pride celebrations for the community.

Manuel said she always went off the Tohono O’odham Nation to celebrate Pride in either Phoenix or Tucson, and it never crossed her mind that Pride on the reservation was possible.

She said it’s important for Indigenous communities to be able to host their pride events because it shows the younger generation that they are part of the community and have the support they need.

“The younger generations are seeing that their community does back them up,” Manuel said, because if they’re not getting support at home and need to talk to someone, they can speak to any of these people attending these events.

“It’s really good to be able to see our own people coming together, not only to celebrate pride but to celebrate their own people that live and work in their community,” she added.

In other parts of Indian Country, the Zuni Publeo Tribe in New Mexico hosted their first pride on June 2 , the Southern Ute Indian Tribe in Colorado hosted their first pride on June 29 , and the Cherokee Nation proclaimed June pride month for the first time .

All across Indian Country, there have been long-standing 2SLGBTQ+ celebrations for Indigenous communities on and off tribal lands, including a two-spirit pride event in South Dakota , the Leech Lake Tribal College pride event in Minnesota, and Indigenous Pride LA in California.

Even though there has been much progress within Indigenous communities, there is still much work to do. There are 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States, 22 of which are in Arizona.

Of those 22, one made a proclamation recognizing June as pride month and four had pride celebrations.

Nelson said he hopes that other tribes and tribal leaders understand that 2SLGBTQ+ individuals will always be here and will always have roles within their communities. He also hopes that more Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ people start to reclaim those spaces.

“There (are) little kids out there in your nation that are listening,” Nelson said, “They’re hearing that our community is under attack.”

Navajo Nation Pride did have support from local tribal leaders; several spoke during the celebration, but it was not always that way.

Nelson said it took a long time to get that support, and they grew accustomed to not having it because that is not what makes Pride. He wants other tribes looking to host their events to remember that.

“It’s not about your elected tribal leadership accepting you,” he said. “In many cases, you just have to say F you are going to do this because this is our, this is our home.”

Nelson said the message Navajo Nation Pride will continue to push is that Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ people have every right to be in their communities.

“I have every right to be here like everyone else,” he added.

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