'Champions of Pride': Native Americans celebrated for work in LGBTQ community

Monday, June 3, 2019  

With Pride Month upon the nation, The Advocate magazine named Champions of Pride from every state and Native Americans and Indigenous people are well represented.

Of the 104 Champions of Pride, at least are 12 Native or Indigenous, accounting for more more than 10 percent of the honorees. Two states -- New Mexico and Oregon -- even boast two Native representatives.

"I’m so honored to represent my home state of OK for @TheAdvocateMag 2019 Champions of Pride," Jen Deerinwater, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, wrote in a post on social media. "I’m also thrilled to see so many of my Indigenous relatives & bi+, & trans/nonbinary/TwoSpirit fam represented here."

The annual list celebrates activists, artists, politicians, influencers, and others for their work in and on behalf of the LGTBQ community. Here are the Native and Indigenous representatives:

• Natalie G. Diaz (Mojave from Gila River Indian Community), poet from Arizona

• Tommy Pico (Viejas), author from California

• Thomas Tonatiuh Lopez Jr (Otomi, Diné, Apache, and Lakota), activist from Colorado

At least I do what I dream. ☁️☁️ n/s #HIGHLIGHT pic.twitter.com/rwq2q9i84g

— Thómas Lopez (@TomvsLopez) February 24, 2019

• Cathy “Taffy” Kapua (Native Hawaiian), activist and advocate from Hawaii

• Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk), one of first two Native women in Congress, representing Third Congressional District in Kansas

• Lady Shug (Navajo), performer from New Mexico

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lady Shug (@lady.shug) on May 29, 2019 at 10:34am PDT

• Trudie Jackson (Navajo), activist, advocate and politician from New Mexico

• Jen Deerinwater (Cherokee), journalist, public speaker and founder/executive director of Crushing Colonialism from Oklahoma

• Qwo-Li Driskill (Cherokee), scholar, activist and author from Oregon

Dr. Qwo-Li Driskill, Associate Professor in WGSS/QS at Oregon State, is one of Meet The Advocate's @TheAdvocateMag 104 Champions of Pride for 2019! #WGSSLove #QSLove #GoBeavs https://t.co/owv0ezsPAd

— WGSS Oregon State (@WGSSOregonState) May 30, 2019

• Jennifer Lanier (Saponi), actor from Oregon

• Ella Mendoza (Indigenous from Peru), artist in Utah

• Layha Spoonhunter (Eastern Shoshone, Northern Arapaho and Oglala Lakota), youth activist and advocate from Wyoming

Meet The Advocate's 104 Champions of Pride for 2019 (The Advocate May 28, 2019)

L.G.B.T.Q. in the Midwest, Where the Fight Is Still Happening (The New York Times May 30, 2019)

Ryan Young is Two Spirit, identifying with both masculine and feminine spirits. Growing up in an Ojibwe community, they struggled to find an identity. “I had to pick: Be Native, or be queer. I didn’t want to pick.” https://t.co/0EQt0ZAZvz

— NYT National News (@NYTNational) May 31, 2019