Nika Bartoo-Smith
Underscore Native News + ICT
Two-Spirit powwows have been a growing space in nearly the last 15 years all across Turtle Island for Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer community members and allies.
From one of the longest-running dedicated Two-Spirit powwows in San Francisco to the second annual in Montana, Two-Spirit powwows have two common goals: to share resources and celebrate Indigiqueer joy.
“We want to honor and celebrate the fact that even through genocide, even through assimilation, Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer folks are alive and thriving, and are contributing in endless ways to their own families, to their own communities, and to the world,” said Angel Fabian, executive director of the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits. Fabian is Ben’Zaa (Zapotecx) and Xicanx.
The 15th annual Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirit Powwow was held at Fort Mason, California. Credit: Probono Photography
As the Trump administration has brought with it a wave of attacks on the rights of 2SLGBTQ+ people, especially trans rights, the importance of Two-Spirit powwows, societies and spaces are essential and continue to grow.
“We’re not going to go away, we’re not going to allow you to erase us and erase our culture, despite what the federal government and state legislatures continue to try and do,” said David Herrera, Mestizo and adopted Blackfeet. Herrera is the co-founder and executive director of the Montana Two Spirit Society.
Here’s a quick glance at the three Two-Spirit powwows that take place across the country, with two happening this summer.
In the Bay: ‘Started out of need’
In 2012, the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits hosted one of the first dedicated Two-Spirit powwows, open to the public and across the world. Now, the powwow draws attendees from all across Turtle Island and beyond, averaging 4,000 to 5,000 people annually.
“It was started out of need 15 years ago,” Fabian said. “There was, unfortunately, at that time still a lot of refusal, and unfortunately, a lot of folks were turned away from powwows, among other spaces, because they didn’t fit the gender norms, and because they wanted to present themselves in their authentic selves. And so out of that great need to be in community, the BAAITS powwow was created.”
While the annual powwow was created as a response to the community need for Two Spirit spaces, the organization has existed since 1999. It was formed by organizers of the 12th International Two Spirit Gathering that was held in the Bay Area on Labor Day 1999 and members of the Gay American Indians, founded in 1975.
“Founded in prayer,” the organization serves the community through creating space for advocacy, wellness and supporting the spiritual, cultural and artistic endeavors of Two Spirit and Indigiqueer people, according to Fabian.
Today, the powwow is still one of the largest gatherings of Two-Spirit people and allies across the world, Fabian said. The powwow is preceded by a week of activities including a youth gathering and a welcome potluck dinner with a drum contest.
Seeing such a huge outpouring of support and participation at the powwow each year, the organization staff are currently creating a “how to” manual of resources for other communities who wish to create their own Two-Spirit powwows.
“I think that for us, we’d like to think that the work that has been done over the last 15 years has impacted communities who have attended the powwow and then taken some of that energy back to their own communities to be able to establish Two-Spirit powwows with their own flavor, in their general area,” Fabian said.
Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits Powwow Committee 2026. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits
Black Hills Two-Spirit Powwow: ‘So we can have a place to go’
On June 6, Uniting Resilience is hosting the 4th annual Black Hills Two-Spirit Powwow in Rapid City, South Dakota.
At the first powwow the organization held in 2023, more than 150 people registered at the door. It has continued to grow since then, with between 300 and 400 attendees last year.
As in the Bay area, in South Dakota the powwow started out of a community need.
Youth and adults alike began asking Monique “Muffie” Mousseau and her wife Felipa De Leon Mousseau, co-founders of Uniting Resilience, to host a Two-Spirit powwow.
“Why don’t you put on a powwow, so we can have a safe space to go? We don’t have anywhere. We can’t go to ceremonies, we can’t go to sweat lodges, we can’t even go to powwows,” Mousseau recalled being told by community members, who described being called homophobic slurs in some of those spaces.
The annual Black Hills Two-Spirit Powwow is just the latest endeavor for Uniting Resilience, a nonprofit founded in 2021 by Mousseau and De Leon Mousseau, both citizens of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
The nonprofit began in 2019 after Mousseau and De Leon Mousseau helped advocate for the Oglala Sioux Tribe to pass a same-sex marriage ordinance followed by a hate crime law offering protection to 2SLGBTQ+ citizens, likely the first Native nation to do so.
“This organization got started because of our experiences,” said Mousseau, describing the extreme homophobia and racism that she and her wife faced as a same-sex, Native couple in South Dakota.
“I would just like to say that it was really hard for us to create this space here, because South Dakota is a red state,” De Leon Mousseau said. “When we started doing this work, we made a lot of changes here in Rapid [City]. It’s still hostile, but not as bad as it was when we first moved up here.”
Through Uniting Resilience, Mousseau and De Leon Mousseau work to build community, educate, push forward legislation and provide advocacy for the Two-Spirit community in South Dakota and beyond.
Missoula Pride Two Spirit Powwow: ‘We’ve existed since the beginning’
As the Montana Two Spirit Society gears up for its 30th annual Montana Two-Spirit gathering this August, one of the longest running Two-Spirit gatherings across Turtle Island, the organization is also preparing for its second annual Two-Spirit powwow that will take place on June 19.
Though there is a mini powwow at the annual gathering, youth from the Montana Two Spirit Society’s youth group requested a bigger powwow that is open to the public.
Hearing from the youth group, the Montana Two Spirit Society talked with Missoula Pride and the first annual powwow took place last June to kick off Missoula Pride Weekend.
Despite the pouring rain last year, more than 100 people showed up, and more are expected to attend this year.
“There was a lot of youth and so to see the little ones dancing was so nice,” said Steven Barrios, co-founder and board chair of the Montana Two-Spirit Society. Barrios is Pikunii Blackfeet Nation.
The Montana Two Spirit Society aims to both provide a space for Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer community members while also providing education to the general public with the powwow, the annual gathering, and the year-around programming.
“Part of our mission is to educate around what it means to be Two-Spirit and about Two-Spirit culture and how our culture was almost eradicated as a result of colonization,” said Herrera. “But thankfully, we’ve existed since the very beginning. We’ve always been here.”
This story is co-published by Underscore Native News and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest.
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