(San Francisco, CA.) On Saturday February 10, 2024 members of the Two-Spirit Dry Lab (2SDL) attended and tabled at the 13th Annual Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS) Two Spirit Powwow that was held at Fort Mason-Festival Pavilion, San Francisco, California, from 10:00 AM to 6:30 PM.
Two-Spirit Dry Lab Members (left to right): Ryan Stillwagon, Goldie Swanson, Lark Doolan, Ava Scherlag (a guest and not a Lab member), Chase Bryer, Omar Martinez and Harlan Pruden
The 13th Annual BAAITS Powwow – the first established and largest public stand-alone Two-Spirit powwow in the world – was the highlight of a week full of events and activities leading up to the powwow. Additionally this year also marked BAAITS’s 25th Year Anniversary, making it one of the longest running 2S organization’s south of the medicine border.
2024 BAAITS 13th Annual Powwow Arena
“This trip (and powwow) weaves together many strands of intersecting relationships that the Two-Spirit Dry Lab hold and how we work, or what we refer to as “circles within circles,” said Harlan Pruden, Co-Principle Investigator of the Two-Spirit. “It is such an honor that this amazing team was brought together: from Goldie Swanson and Lark Doolan, both Lab members and community leads who are working for better tomorrows for Two-Spirit people within their respective communities, to the 5 other Two-Spirit Dry Lab members who are based Providence RI, Central Florida, and Vancouver, BC.”
“It was incredibly moving to witness the gathering of so many Two-Spirit Indigenous families at this event. Children hold a profound significance within Indigenous cultures, much like in Latino cultures, and their participation played a central and heartwarming role in all the dances and activities. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold,” marveled Omar Martinez, Two-Spirit Dry Lab member and Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida, “I was also impressioned by the presence of the US flag at the event. During conversations with Two-Spirit individuals reflecting on this, they highlighted the complex history surrounding the treaties and the involvement of Indigenous people in US wars. Many Two-Spirit and Indigenous individuals served in these wars, much like other Black and Brown communities. This history is deeply rooted, making it a sensitive and important topic to address.”
When asked if they had an ah-ha moment at the powwow, Chase Bryer, citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, Two-Spirit Dry Lab member, and a current doctoral student in Behavioral and Social Health Sciences at Brown University School of Public Health explained, “We are here. We are still here. We have always been here. We will always be here. As Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer people we were made for this kind of community gathering; it is our medicine. It has sustained us and will continue to sustain us,” said Chase, “Representation in research really does matter; powerful cultural spaces such as BAAITS leave positive ripple effects across many generations of Indigenous 2S/LGBTQ+ peoples that advance and elevate the existence of Two-Spirit people. I believe our table really signified to the Two-Spirit community and attendees that we must be included and honored in all aspects of society including scientific research that is for and by our people.”
At this year’s powwow, BAAITS welcomed an estimated 5,000+ people, a larger crowd for the 2023 powwow. Vendors on site sold frybread and other delicious powwow favorites like Bannock/Indian Tacos and Indigenous art and jewelry, and other handmade items. This powwow features several hours of ceremonial honor dances and contest dances; all powwow dancers and drums were welcomed.
2024 BAAITS 13th Annual Powwow Goers
“I had many amazing ah-ha moments at the 13th Annual BAAITS Powwow in San Francisco,” said Goldie Swanson, a Community Health Representative at Haida Health Centre/Niislaa Naay in Old Masset on Haida Gwaii and Two-Spirit Dry Lab member, “but there was a bit of heaviness in my heart. Events like this one are so powerful to so many people, which made me think: why aren’t there more events like this back home for our Two-Spirit, Indigenous, Queer and straight relatives? I think it is high time that we fix this!”
“After being at the powwow for a while,” shared Lark Doolan, the Executive Director Queer Humboldt and Two-Spirit Dry Lab Member, “it was as though my mind had let go of settler colonialist constructs of gender. I was able to see people as they are, without trying to organize them into boxes they don’t fit into. It felt freeing and natural to perceive people in that way.”
Queer Humboldt, an active community partner of the Two-Spirit Dry Lab, is an anti-racist, anti-settler-colonialist resource center, serving queer individuals and groups in Humboldt County and local tribal Lands through community education, affordable mental health services, micro- grants/mutual aid, the Two-Spirit Project, networking and more. Queer Humboldt sponsored a team of 17 people for this year’s powwow, including 5 Indigenous high school students, 3 college interns, several staff, 2 board members, a Hupa elder, and representatives from the Wiyot Tribe.
Members of the Queer Humboldt team collected signatures for a petition for the creation of a Two-Spirit Celebrations and Awareness Day. This awareness day would be for the entire State of California and to be held on the Spring Equinox – the day when there are equal day and night times.
After the powwow, Queer Humboldt hosted a dinner bringing together members of the Two-Spirit Dry Lab with various community partners.
“BAAITS was a stunning first powwow experience,” reflected Ryan Stillwagon, Two-Spirit Dry Lab Research Specialist, “I think what was most memorable for me was being with my Two-Spirit Dry Lab comrades. Having so many Lab members old and new with us was beautiful. We got to experience what our work pushes so hard for: Two-Spirit joy, and we experienced that together. It felt like one big, monumental celebration and it was special to experience that with so many people I hold so dearly to me.”
“It was truly a liberating experience to be amongst such a vast and diverse spectrum of Two-Spirit representation,” remarked Martin Morberg, Two-Spirit Program Coordinator at the Community-Based Research Centre and Two-Spirit Dry Lab member, “Big moments like the grand entry remind me of not only how far I’ve come in my own experience, but how far our kinship and our community has come also – it’s like a Two-Spirit Rebirth – our time is now! I believe it is important to not only honor and acknowledge the trailblazers that have made events like this possible (and to understand their efforts have paved the way for Two-Spirit liberation and inclusion), but to also recognize that collectively, we are breaking trail for the baby Two-Spirit people coming up behind us. To witness and be a part of this trail clearing is to receive sustainable soul food!”
2024 BAAITS Powwow Grand Entry
This event was free and open to the public, although donations were welcomed to ensure production of future BAAITS powwows. This was a sober event and drugs and alcohol are prohibited. Powwows are intertribal social gatherings, usually on weekends, between Natives and non-Native peoples that celebrate Native American cultures, and centered around dance, songs, food, and oral histories.
“As someone who has been fighting for Two-Spirit inclusion for almost 2.5 decades, I have been kicking down or shouldering doors so Two-Spirit peoples and communities have a place at decision tables. This way of working was hard and exhausting” exclaimed Harlan Pruden, “So being at this powwow with all the other amazing and talented Two-Spirit Dry Lab members and the 5000+ attendees is truly a gift. We all came together to build new, rekindle and renew relationships, where we simply laughed, got to know one another, witnessed, honored and most importantly danced. Yes, these are acts of love and relationships but this also represents the ultimate act of resistance that not only charts a new way forward but is totally sustainable!”
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Two-Spirit Dry Lab Members: Martin Morberg and Omar Martinez
2024 Arena Director, Buffalo Barbie and Two-Spirit Dry Lab Member, Omar Martinez
Two-Spirit Posters at the 2024 BAAITS Powwow
Two-Spirit Posters at the 2024 BAAITS Powwow
Two-Spirit Dry Lab Members: Omar Martinez, Harlan Pruden and Ryan Stillwagon
Two-Spirit Dry Lab Members: Harlan Pruden and Chase Bryer
Two-Spirit Dry Lab Member, Lark Doolan (far right) with students from Hoopa High School and Cal Poly Humboldt, along with a Hupa “Auntie” who also chaperoned the field trip to the Powwow.
Two-Spirit Dry Lab Member, Lark Doolan (far left) with Two-Spirit high school students and chaperones from the Queer Humboldt BAAITS Powwow field trip.
Two-Spirit Dry Lab Members: Goldie Swanson and Ryan Stillwagon at Friday’s Two-Spirit Drag Show at the 2S/LGBTQ+ Community Center on Market Street
