Senate sinks bill to protect Two-Spirits from hate crimes

PIERRE—When Senate Bill 166 unanimously passed in the South Dakota Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 18, it was the first time a committee in any state government in the United States ever approved protections for Native American Two-Spirit individuals. But the bill’s days were numbered.

“This bill would add protections for those who identify as LGBTQ and Native American Two-Spirit to our hate crime law,” said South Dakota State Sen. Red Dawn Foster while introducing Senate Bill 166 to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 11.

“South Dakota’s existing Hate Crimes Law is woefully deficient, leaving out many vulnerable communities that are the target for bias-motivated crimes,” said Foster, an Oglala Lakota Democrat representing District 27, which includes Bennett, Haakon, Jackson, Pennington, and Oglala Lakota counties.

On Feb. 1, Foster, a freshman legislator, introduced the bill, one of the first she has sponsored. It calls for protections for individuals identifying as LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, and Transgender & Queer) and Native American Two-Spirit in the State of South Dakota.

“We are very proud of Sen. Red Dawn Foster,” said Dr. Monique “Muffie” Mousseau, who was influential in the passing of her Oglala Sioux Tribe’s hate crime law offering protection to its LGBTQ and Two-Spirit citizens.

“We are happy SB166 made it through the judiciary committee as well as a first reading on the Senate floor,” Mousseau told the Native Sun News Today. “This is the furthest this bill has ever been, and we are grateful for this experience.”

The bill included provisions found elsewhere in existing laws that would protect individuals based on sexual orientation and gender identity, adding specific inclusion of the Native American Two-Spirit category.

This marks the first time the terminology Native American Two-Spirit was up for discussion in an official capacity in a state government.

After two full hearings on the Senate floor, lawmakers ultimately rejected it in a vote of 27-8.

South Dakota law does not prosecute hate crimes based on gender identity or sexual orientation. However, federal law has covered both categories since 2009, when the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed into law by former President Barack Obama. Hate crimes committed on the basis of the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity can be prosecuted in federal court.

Testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mousseau said, “I want you to understand the urgency of changing your mentality from the past 2,000 years and beyond. Brainwashing people into believing that there are gods judging people must stop. There are consequences to suppression and oppression.”

She continued, “Since the arrival of Europeans to what is now called the United States of America there was, is and always will be Native American Two-Spirit, gays, lesbian, bi-sexual, trans persons, and queer, regardless of judgement from the brainwashed believers of European religion and hateful ignorance.”

Senator Foster’s work aims to serve her people, particularly those from her home community of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation where traditional Lakota culture has long respected LGBTQ and Two-Spirit relatives. Colonization brought Western values inspired by Christianity where those identifying as LGBTQ have been outlawed and shunned from participating in many aspects of society, including marriage.

Although results are often underreported, a study published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in November 2020 shows that hate crimes based on sexual orientation represent 16.7 percent of all hate crimes, the third largest category after race and religion.

Reporting hate crimes to the FBI is not mandatory. The legacy of colonialism leaves many Indigenous peoples experiencing higher rates of violence, trauma, abuse, and a variety of negative health consequences, including being targeted for their sexual orientation and their gender identity.

On Sept. 4, 2019, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council’s hate crime legislation, which protects LGBT and Two-Spirit individuals, passed with 14 votes in favor, 2 against and 1 abstention. The Oglala Sioux Tribe is the first tribe to enact such a law.

Mousseau had been living away from South Dakota for years and when she returned closer to home to care for her mother in 2016, she faced discrimination in securing employment and housing in Rapid City. Mousseau is a former police officer on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

“When I returned to South Dakota, I worked overnight as a stocker at Wal-Mart,” said Mousseau to Native Sun News Today. “But Two-Spirited people and their families began finding me, wanting to share horrific stories of abuse with me.

They described persecution in schools, the workplace and by law enforcement, Mousseau said, adding, “Many suicides were being reported to us by people who were Two-Spirited. “We had to do something.”

Many, including Mousseau, consider the term Two-Spirit to be sacred. She’s a proud Two-Spirit woman, having married her partner Felipa De Leon in 2015 at the National Gay Marriage Celebration at Mount Rushmore, where eight gay couples made their vows under the stone faces carved at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in defiance to the state’s opposition to support same-sex marriage.

According to Candi Brings Plenty, executive director of Two Spirit Nation, seven of the nine tribes in the State of South Dakota either passed resolutions or wrote letters of support for Senate Bill 166 and Senate Bill 190, which would “revise provisions regarding unfair or discriminatory practices,” its title says.

“The only reason we don’t have the other two tribes expressing their support is because we haven’t reached them yet,” said Candi Brings Plenty to the Native Sun News Today.

The Two Spirit Nation is a national grassroots organization that was created during the 2016-2017 Standing Rock #NoDAPL movement at the Oćeti Šakowin camp to elevate visibility, advocacy and awareness. “It is a means to reclaim our sacred space in our sacred circles and to attribute to healing historical trauma for all Two-Spirits across Turtle Island,” said Brings Plenty.

“Supporting our Two-Spirit relatives is important, because having wao’hola (respect) for all life, is part of Lakota epistemology and our core cultural values,” said Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member Alli Moran to Native Sun News Today.

“Mita’kuye Oyás’in” means “We Are All Related” and we respect all life—human, animals, water. It is our overall holistic respect for all living things, and we understand the interconnectedness of all living things,” said Moran, a Lakota cultural advocate who sought election in 2020 for South Dakota State Senate District 28, which is the largest district in the state.

“Clearly, South Dakota is a state that maintains an old mentality and not very progressive when it comes to diversity and inclusion,” Mousseau said. “Our legislators must realize that our LGBTQ & Native American Two Spirit relatives must be integrated and accepted into constitutional protections because mitakuye oyasin.”

(Contact Darren Thompson at darrenjthompson@hotmail.com)

 

The post Senate sinks bill to protect Two-Spirits from hate crimes first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

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