Native Americans, Father Serra and ‘Two Spirited’

As soon as Pope Francis announced that he was going to canonize and make a “saint” of Father Junipero Serra (the 18th century Franciscan missionary of California) rightfully protests were immediately made and are going on to this day by Native Americans.

Many Native American and “First Nation” leaders have compared Father Serra’s conversion of Natives to “genocide.” This coming May 2 there will be a daylong celebration to honor Serra in Rome and Pope Francis will be coming to the United States to make Serra a saint Sept. 23 in Washington, D.C.

Many times Americans seem to forget and dismiss the fact that our Native Americans and their people and culture were nearly wiped out. They were enslaved and many were forced to convert to Christianity and diseases were spread among them. The facts are that we stole their land and killed their people. First the Spanish government, then the Mexicans and finally the American government. Our nation’s history is full of mistreatment of Native Americans and the cold hard facts are that many were involved or they looked the other way and never spoke out.

Interestingly the Vatican recently issued a statement that tried to defend Father Serra stating that, “It is important to look at Father Serra as a man of his time who like many others used corporal punishment as an educational tool, it wasn’t a death penalty.” I guess the Vatican is trying to tell us that Serra and other clergy just beat the hell out of the Natives but unlike the Spanish didn’t beat them to death! I am very glad that Native American leaders are speaking out because people need to be reminded about this sad chapter in our nation’s history.

Interestingly, when the early European explorers came to America among the things that they reported back to their monarchs was that some of the wild natives were “men who dress like women” and “women who dress like men” and that some even seem to be married to each other. All of this was accepted by the tribes. These written reports are a matter of historic record of explorers’ early observations of many Native American tribes.

For centuries many Native American communities have accepted homosexuality as people being “Two Spirited” and they have respected, accepted and honored them. Many times these “two spirited” people held high positions in the tribes. The LGBT community should always honor, respect and support our Native American brothers and sisters because they have always accepted us even before America was discovered.

Atkinson’s campaign kickoff

Last week I attended congressional candidate Jacquie Atkinson’s campaign fundraiser kick-off at the award winning restaurant Heat. A big crowd of supporters showed up including many business people, veterans and women. Atkinson who is a decorated Marine captain and “wounded warrior” veteran is also a respected businesswoman and community activist. An openly proud lesbian American, she is the co-chair of the Sheriff’s LGBT Advisory Board and is a member of the Mayor’s Advisory Board.

Last time this congressional race saw three Republican candidates running for this swing district seat, but this time it looks like the Party will rally around Atkinson.

Among those in attendance were Republican County Chair Tony Krvaric, Past Liberty Caucus Chair Brian Brady, Chair of the Lincoln Club Women’s Caucus Norma Movet (Councilman Sherman’s wife), City Commissioners Tom Hebrank (Lincoln Club) and Susan Jester (Log Cabin).