Pride Day connects Syracuse’s queer and Indigenous communities

Crowds gathered into the Skä•noñh Great Law Center to celebrate both the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Syracuse queer community at the Pride Day event on Sept. 19. The afternoon was filled with conversation, a traditional Haudenosaunee community meal and music, as attendees raised money for the 2Spirit Sanctuary Coalition. 

Founder of the 2Spirit Sanctuary Coalition, Shawn Shenandoah, hopes to help build community for 2Spirit individuals, which are people who are both Indigenous and queer. Shenandoah founded the coalition as a response to the treatment he experienced as a member of both the LGBTQ+ and Indigenous communities. 

“I was looking for community, and as a 2Spirit person I naturally went to my Indigenous community to find that,” Shenandoah said, expressing his goal to “let people know that 2Spirit people exist.”

The afternoon kicked off with welcoming words from Dean Lyons. The native words spoken provided blessings to the land, water, flowers, plants, animals and the community, as the crowd overlooked Onondaga Lake. As Lyons spoke, he repeated the words back to the crowd in English.

A traditional Haudenosaunee-style cuisine followed the welcoming words consisting of venison BBQ sliders, corn soup with scones, Three Sisters soup, mush with berries and yellow cornbread. The meal was shared around communal tables outside the Skä•noñh Great Law Center.  

While the food was passed around and many people were meeting for the first time, conversation flowed around the connection between the queer and Indigenous communities. 

“The things that many queer people are pushing for when we have pride, such as liberation from different forms of oppression, are things that Indigenous people have dealt with, and so these that maybe are new to us are actually quite old,” co-organizer and SU Ph.D. student, Joss Willsbrough, said. “Indigenous people all over the world are carrying torches of wisdom and ways of being with each other that we all have so much to learn from.” 

Willsbrough called the turnout “electric,” and said that it was the highlight of her day to see people who are queer, native or both come together and learn from one another. 

After the meal, the Onondaga Women’s Singing Society performed. The group brought rhythmic percussion and melodic vocals, bringing the culture of the Indigenous people to life as the room grew silent, listening to the performance.

Following the performance was a riveting panel where two members of the 2Spirit and Indigenous queer community spoke about the challenges both communities face. The panelists emphasized how by coming together, they can better fight off oppression.

The day wrapped up with a guided tour of the Skä•noñh center, leaving everyone a little more educated about the Haudenosaunee Confederacy than before.

Syracuse local and member of the LQBTQ+ community Dan Mumford, enjoyed learning about the Indigenous culture. 

“I grew up a mile away from the reservation, and we didn’t really know as much as we should have about that part of history,” Mumford said. 

Pride Day helped build connections between both groups, while educating attendees about 2Spirit individuals and the Indigenous history of Syracuse.