From @thelilynews: Navajo Nation celebrates its first official Pride parade after a devastating year https://t.co/vE0v4hN9E5
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 21, 2021
Cheering read from the Washington Post — “‘We’re here, we survived and we’re going to be okay’“:
… Navajo Nation Pride began as a small event hosted outside the offices of a feminist collective in Window Rock’s Ch’ihootso Indian Market Place four years ago. Since then, the annual event has grown into the country’s largest Indigenous Pride — peaking at an estimated 7,000 attendees in 2019 — with year-long programs and scholarships dedicated to supporting LGBTQ2S+ youth and leaders.
This year, Pride came as the Navajo Nation, which suffered some of the worst effects of the pandemic, leads the country in vaccinations. Cars adorned with gay and trans pride flags, signs reading “Diyingo ‘Adaanitsíískéés” — Navajo for “We are sacred” — and rainbow streamers paraded from the Navajo Nation Museum through central Window Rock and to the Navajo Nation Council Chambers.
There, attendees settled in folding chairs spaced six feet apart to hear speakers address movements to reclaim Indigenous LGBTQ2S+ identity, the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis among American Indians and Alaskan Natives, and the work to pass inclusive legislation such as the Navajo Nation Equality Act. The theme of the year was “the sacred resilience of Indigenous womxn.”
“This year is our fourth year and in Diné culture we understand that the number four is a very sacred number,” invoking the four directions and the four sacred colors, said Navajo Nation Pride’s youth director Geronimo Louie (Navajo). “We are a matriarchal society at heart and through our teachings and understandings and our origin stories, women have always been leading and paving the way for all of us as Indigenous people.”…
rikyrah
This is a welcome positive post. Thanks.
Jerzy Russian
Nice article, thanks for the link.
Fair Economist
That’s pretty cool.
VeniceRiley
Happy Pride, first peoples rainbow.
Baud
adáádahaníi ?️?
(“Pride” in Navajo according to some online translator)
J R in WV
After more than a dozen attempts to refresh to use the visual tab, no luck, so going to use the Text tab instead.
Years ago Wife and I took a drive from SE AZ north all the way to Navajo Nation in V early spring. Enjoyed every bit of that trip. Especially the Navajo Nation Radio station…
Mostly announced in the Navajo language, except for the bits for which there is no Navajo equivelant to English. The best example of this was the discussion of the death of a famed Medal of Honor Navajo Code Talker from WW II. You see, the Navajo do not do funerals, once you have died, you and your name and your biography is taboo.
In fact they work hard to ensure that you won’t die in your own home — once the family decides you are at death’s door, they make a hole in the side of your hogan, so as to take you out without use of the actual door. So when a famous war hero was dying, and all the politicians want to be there for the funeral, there was a conflict.
All the discussion of the Code Taker Medal of Honor hero’s death on Nation Radio was in English, because Navajo doesn’t even have words for talking about a funeral at all. Which we knew, but which hadn’t even hit us like this event hit us.
The station sells ads from businesses, Ford Truck ads, etc. And most of those use some English, mixed in with Navajo. But the discussion of the Code Talker Hero was almost all English, with a very few sentences in Navajo.
So glad to see the Navajo Nation, which has always had a basic acceptance and understanding of people’s gender uncertainty, having a great Pride Parade — those are some great people, and a great culture~!!~
E.
Great post. I feel lucky to live in a country where, after all the atrocities, we still have places like the Navajo Nation and the people who live there. And in so many ways they are leading the way. The elections literally would have turned out completely differently if not for the Native vote. And the opposition to pipelines is largely led by indigenous groups. I have lived most of my life in “Indian Country” or at least very near it, and the racism Indian people have to endure is horrific. Where I live now, in very very very northern California, it is perfectly acceptable to express racist views against Indian people, in public. (The Klamath water controversy isn’t helping, either.) I have so much respect for what they have achieved in the face of overwhelming opposition.
Sister Golden Bear
That’s full of awesome.
FYI, the reference to “LGBTQ2S+” is inclusive of “two spirits.” I’ll defer to Native American jackals for a better definition, and from what I understand from my two-spirit friends, the definition can vary from tribe to tribe. But generally it refers to a person who identifies as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit, and is used by some Native people to describe their sexual, gender and/or spiritual identity.
Sister Golden Bear
Also too, I made my own little contribute to Pride Week by taking part in panel discussion about trans allyship at Big Financial Services Company. Nice to have a workshop where all five panelists where trans, non-binary or gender non-conforming.
I had some qualms about outing myself — while being out is generally seen as a Good Thing in LGB communities because it lets others see your true and authentic self, being out is more complicated for trans people because all-too-often it causes others to focus on who you were, not who you are (now). But I’ve got lots of privilege compared to most trans folks, so being visible for those who can’t be is the least I can do, given all the efforts to eradicate (not a word I use lightly) trans people from public life.
Another Scott
@Sister Golden Bear: As you know, representation matters. Thanks for being willing to be an important example and to make things better.
Cheers,
Scott.
Alison Rose
Love love love