A picture’s worth a thousand words

Tulsa, Okla. — A Native American LGBT organization in Tulsa and Okmulgee, Okla., known as the Two Spirit Society, has gained national recognition after having an HIV prevention poster published by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said spokesman John Co-Cke.

The Two Spirit Society groups were a result of grant funding provided by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, Co- Cke said, and the poster was generated through a collaborative effort with the National Indian Women’s Health Resource Center (NIWHRC) in Tahlequah, Okla.

Two Spirits are a “culture-specific general identity for Native Americans with homosexual or transgendered identities,” according to a SAMHSA brief found at http://beta.samhsa.gov/ sites/default/files/lgbtqi2-s-practicebrief. pdf.

 “One of the components of the SAMHSA grant was to do testing and outreach for Two Spirit and Native people who are high risk,” Co-Cke said.

 “ … And the NIWHRC contacted us to conduct a focus group to help reach Native people through advertisement and a poster campaign.”

The NIWHRC presented the focus group at the Two Spirit Society’s annual retreat, he said, where suggestions regarding the poster campaign were considered.

 “Several people in the group suggested that the poster should feature a Native couple surrounded by their family, in support of their prevention of HIV, and to get tested know your status,” Co-Cke said.

 “ … Through these focus groups, the prevention poster was born.”

Co-Cke said the Two Spirit Society was established to enable LGBT Native Americans to reconnect with their culture.

 “We, as leaders, feel that we need to become healthy in our beliefs before we can come back to the tribes to re-establish our way of life,” Co- Cke said.

 “The Native American community is very family-oriented and very supportive of their Two Spirit people — as long as they haven’t become stimulated by nontraditional beliefs,” he said.

 “Our whole focus is to find our way back in the tribe.”

Personally, Co-Cke said, the Two Spirit Society is important to him because he’s experienced the struggles of being an LGBT Native American firsthand.

 “I was brought up as a Christian Indian, not a traditional Indian,” he said. “I came out in the late 70s when being gay was nothing but bars, drinking and doing drugs.”

 “I kept feeling like, ‘Is this all there is to being gay? If so, then I don’t want anything to do with this lifestyle.’”

It wasn’t until 1990, he said, after meeting a traditional Native American counselor, when he started changing the way he viewed himself as a homosexual and Two-Spirited man.

 “I started erasing those Christian mind tapes that I was wrong, I was a sinner and I was not worthy of being a human being,” Co-Cke said. “It took many years, but I have come full circle in my way of believing and thinking about who I am and what my purpose is on this earth.”

 “I can truly say I am a healthier Two Spirit person and because of that I’ve become one of the leaders of the Two Spirit Society.”

Along with its members’ spiritual revitalization, Co-Cke said, the future is promising for the Two Spirit Society’s campaign against HIV and STDs.

 “We will continue the prevention message and our campaign to prevent HIV/AIDS, as long as the grant money and private donation continue.

“We’ll also be focusing on what our next step will be in regards to our future as Two Spirit people,” he said. “There are still many Two Spirit people who need to hear the true message of our traditional ways, and as a group we need to reach out and fi nd these people.”

 “… And because of this poster we hope that these people will come forth to be a part of our movement.”

To contact Co-Cke, call (918) 277- 1922 or email hawknesw@yahoo.com.

by Siali Siaosi, Journalism Intern

The Gayly – August 13, 2014 @ 10:45am