International Two-Spirit Celebration and Appreciation Day from Wiyot Land 2025
Queer Humboldt and NCIDC 2S Celebration and Appreciation Days: 4 Days Showcasing Two-Spirit Resurgence in Wiyot Territory (March 13-16, 2025)
Two-Spirit Dry Lab (2SDL) members Harlan Pruden and Ryan Stillwagon traveled to Wiyot territory (Arcata-Eureka, CA) to join Lab member Lark Doolan of Queer Humboldt in acknowledging the 2025 (International) Two-Spirit Celebration and Appreciation Day.
Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ Celebration and Appreciation Day is an annual celebration of the radiance and diversity of Two-Spirit peoples, expressions and experiences. Held in alignment with the Spring Equinox each year, it is a celebration intended for all Two-Spirit and Indigenous queer and trans people, as well as allies, families, and friends to come together, learn, and celebrate.
Two-Spirit Celebration and Awareness Day was a dream of 2SDL Lab co-founder, Harlan Pruden, and advocated for and by members of the Two-Spirit community and other Lab members. This day was first acknowledged by the City of Vancouver four years ago, in 2021, and is now recognized in many communities across Canada.
As a direct result of the leadership of Lab member Lark Doolan, this day is now an Internationally recognized day! The Wiyot Band Council, Humboldt County, the City of Arcata, and the City of Eureka, have declared the Spring Equinox as Two-Spirit Celebration and Appreciation Day. With these non-Canadian jurisdictions, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, acknowledging this day – it is now truly an International Two-Spirit Celebration and Appreciation Day!
The momentum is building on this powerful work.
The most recent trip of 2SDL members to Wiyot territory (located in what is now referred to as northern California) was to support and bear witness to the amazing and powerful work happening in and on this territory. This year’s International Two-Spirit Celebration and Awareness Day was powerful medicine given the current political climate and increasingly contested spaces and places for Two-Spirit and LGBTQQIA+ Indigenous and non-Indigenous relatives alike who live south of the medicine line (US/CAN boarder). As Lab member and Queer Humboldt executive director Lark Doolan put it during the joyful events, “This is how we heal the world – by coming together with joy and celebration in our hearts!”
The year’s four day kick-off extravaganza the 2025 (International) Two-Spirit Celebration and Appreciation Day was hosted and organized by the Northern California Indian Development Council (NCIDC) and Queer Humboldt. The four days of events began with film screenings of the Frameline production “Two Spirits” (2007) and Disney’s “The Roof” (2023) followed by a Two-Spirit discussion panel of community members. Day 2 included a talk and teach-in by Lab members Harlan Pruden and Ryan Stillwagon on “Who and What is Two-Spirit.” On Saturday (Day 3), land based learnings occurred at United Indian Health Services’ Potawot Gardens which included a talk on queerness in nature from Two-Spirit youth Parker Vassel (Cherokee) followed by a walking tour showcasing all the medicines in the Potawot Gardens. Day 4 of the extravaganza event was a Two-Spirit Drag Show and Poetry event held in downtown Arcata, CA.
Pruden, who has been doing this work for almost 30-years, championed the work of the NCIDC and Queer Humboldt for assembling such a powerful series of events across multiple days. “What a magical way to spend these four days leading up to this year’s International Two-Spirit Celebration and Appreciation Day! Witnessing all Two-Spirit and Indigenous leadership and work being done on Wiyot territory is so powerful and inspiring.” said Pruden.
Stillwagon underscored that the work of the Lab on this trip was deepening and broadening these cultivated relationships with community-partners and Two-Spirit youth and young activists. “I found it incredibly powerful to hear from the Two-Spirit youth activists on the panel on the opening day and the closing day drag show. At the opening panel, they each spoke to the importance of Indigenous and Queer spaces doing more to include Two-Spirit peoples. They shared that their art and vulnerability in telling their stories were sources of great strength for community building. My hope is that these events become regular features on Wiyot territory and beyond, ones that further foster Two-Spirit resurgence, empowerment, and communal solidarities.”
Doolan reflected on his work orchestrating multiple community partner organizations to create these events. Reflecting on the collaborations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners he commented, “When LGBTQIA+ communities and Native communities are in ‘right relationship’ with each other, Two-Spirit people benefit, and when Two-Spirit people benefit, we all benefit.” Doolan and staff at Queer Humboldt actively work with 16 schools across Humboldt County to collect school safety data that tracks anti-queer and anti-Indigenous racisms. “It was a group of high school educators on the Hoopa Reservation that identified the importance of centering youth voices in designing interventions. That’s where the student survey started and it is now being used countywide to track trends relating to 2S/LGBTQIA+ student safety, wellbeing, and requests for resources.” A resounding request coming from the 11-18 year old survey participants were for more events centering Two-Spirit and queer people in community, history lessons, and classroom discussions.
The work of the 2SDL Lab with Queer Humboldt, Two-Feathers Native American Family Services, the Wiyot Tribe at Table Bluff, United Indian Health Services, and North Coast Indian Development Council is evolving from a place of raising awareness about Two-Spirit traditions, customs, and community members to that of empowering Two-Spirit people to see their lives in everyday narrations. Stillwagon reflects on their changing role on Wiyot lands. “I see our work less about talking at audiences on Two-Spirit traditions and now more about how we mobilize our energies and resources to platform the local artists and organizers self-determining their roles as Two-Spirit people living across towns in Wiyot, Yurok, Churook, Hupa, Tolowa, Pitt River, and other tribal regions. Two-Spirit youth and community members old and new uplift the work of each other, and these past 4 days showcased the diverse and vibrant aspects of Two-Spirit life that moves past their existence and works with their embodied experiences, from expressions of love and connection, community-building, artistic talent, relationships to the land, and dreaming of empowered futures.”
Pruden marvels at the strides these communities have taken since 2022. “When a broader historical view is brought into greater attention and awareness, the message to our American-based relatives is that our current collective and individual experiences are just another day for Indigenous and Two-Spirit peoples and/or communities and this is tempered with the fact that we have been here before and we are still here today, “Colonization attempted to erase or suppress Indigenous teachings that celebrate and honor gender and sexual diversity,” said Pruden about the current political climate.
The Two-Spirit resurgence represented in the four day kick-off extravaganza on Wiyot territory is important medicine for communities across Northern California and the rest of Turtle Island. “These events,” said Pruden, “enable Indigenous people to reconnect with these wise teachings and thereby affirms our diverse and time honored roles in community. This is also the physical and spiritual embodiment that we have been here before and by coming together with joy and love in our hearts to celebrate – and carry the message that this too will pass and we will still be here as we have always been here.”
