'Two Spirits Tradition' next week at KCKCC

Posted by on November 4, 2009 - 4:59pm
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Apache.jpgNative Americans Joey Criddle (right) and Crisosto Apache (left) will present a program on “Embracing Two-Spirit Traditions” at Kansas City Kansas Community College Thursday, Nov. 12.

Open to the public without charge, the program will be held from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in Room 2325 on the lower level of the Jewell Center.   

Sponsored by the OQS Diversity Club, Campus Forum, Intercultural Center and Women’s Resource Center, original “traditional American values” and the personal and cultural perspectives will be presented. A reception will follow.

Native American Two-Spirit Traditions embrace gender diversity and have a positive outlook on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, which is seen as having the gift of two spirits, both male and female. Transgender individuals are seen as even more sacred because of their physical embodiment. As such, Two Spirits have special responsibilities and expectations within their tribes.

Criddle.jpgOne of two founding members of the Two Spirit Society of Denver and co-director for nine years, Criddle is a member of the Jicarilla Apache tribe. The head singer for the society, he is a graduate of Itawamba College in Mississippi and employed as a respiratory therapist in Denver.

Seeing a need for the Two Spirit people to organize in Denver, which has a large Native America population, Criddle helped found the organization which has provided GLBT Native American people with a safe place for the past 10 years as well as a platform for cultural rejuvenation, bonding and education.

A member of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, Crisosto Apache was born and raised on the Mescalero reservation in New Mexico. A graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. N.M., he has also attended Naropa University in Boulder, the University of Colorado in Denver and is currently attending Metro State College of Denver while working with disadvantaged youth. Co-director for the Two Spirit Society, he volunteers his time to conduct Two Spirit educational presentations.