The Intersection of Racism, Heterosexism, and Transphobia: School Leadership Opportunities

1. The Intersection of Racism, Heterosexism, and Transphobia: School Leadership Opportunities Jim Hanson, M.Ed. Jeffrey Poirier, Ph.D. Candidate, M.A. Miriam Bearse, M.A., M.Phil., MACP National Association of School Psychologists Convention February 13, 2013 Seattle, Washington

2. Introductions Jim Hanson, Co-Chair, NASP GBLTQ Committee, National Association of School Psychologists Jeffrey Poirier, American Institutes for Research (AIR), Coordinator of SAMHSA’s National Workgroup to Address the Needs of Children and Youth Who Are LGBTQI2-S and Their Families Miriam Bearse, King County (Greater Seattle) Mental Health, Member of SAMHSA’s National Workgroup to Address the Needs of Children and Youth Who Are LGBTQI2-S and Their Families

3. Welcome, Bienvenido • NASP frameworks & position papers • Native American LGBT, two-spirit youth • Latina/o youth • How this fits in school practice • Strategies and recommendations • Discussion

4. Native American Communities Strengths • Resilience • Generations • Traditions • Cultures • Languages • Spiritualities • Land • Indigenous ways of knowing Wisdom of the Elders: Discovering Our Story (2012). Portland, OR. Author

5. Youth Voice “Michael Red Earth describes his time as a youth at the Sisseton-Wahpeton reservation where his step-grandmother permitted him to learn her beadwork and elders described him respectfully as a winkte. Yet during adolescence he encountered homophobic messages from Native peers [who said that] LGBT people had no place in Native communities. Yet after learning from two-spirit organizers about historical Native sexuality and gender diversity he felt able to return to their rural and urban Native families and communities to seek renewed acceptance.” (Morgensen, 2008) Osh-Tisch (Finds them and Kills Them) Crow bade, 1877

6. Latino Community Strengths Five prominent values in Mexican and many other Hispanic cultures: • Education • Family • Helping family and friends succeed • Loyalty to people • Religion From Discovering and Developing Talents in Spanish-Speaking Students, by Smutny, Bolanos, Haydon, and Estrada, 2012 by Corwin Press

7. LGBTQI-2S Community Strengths • LGBTQ youth are capable of developing methods to keep themselves safe and find support from their environment. • School psychologists should work to identify and build strengths and resilience in LGBTQ youth. National Association of School Psychologists. (2011). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth (Position Statement). Bethesda, MD: Author

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9. Foundations of School Psychological Service Delivery Diversity in development and learning • Knowledge of individual differences, abilities, disabilities, and other diverse characteristics; principles and research related to diversity factors for children, families, and schools, including factors related to culture, context, and individual and role differences; and evidence-based strategies to enhance services and address potential influences related to diversity • Examples: • Provide culturally competent and responsive services • Promote fairness and social justice in school policies and programs

10. Cultural and Linguistic Competence • Combination of capacity (e.g., knowledge, skills),attitudes, and commitmentto work effectively in different contexts • A focus on enhancing equitableaccess to quality services/care for all cultural groups.

11. NASP Position Statements • Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth (2011) • Racism, Prejudice and Discrimination (2012) • Bullying Prevention and Intervention in Schools (2012) • Effective Service Delivery for Indigenous Children and Youth (2012)

12. An Indigenous Conceptual Framework: Guiding School Psychology Practice with Native American Youth, Families and Communities

13. Native American LGBTQI / Two-Spirit Youth

14. Two-Spirit Identity Two-spirit was a term created by Native American LGBT people in 1990 as an “umbrella term” to include many of the tribally specific terms used to refer to those who are “not male and not female” or who “take on” the other gender as well as those Native Americans who identify as LGBT.It comes from a Northern Algonquin word “niizhmanitoag” (two-spirits).(Anguksuar, 1997) Some identify as Two-Spirit, others identify themselves using traditional terms, others identify as Native and LGBT, or LGBT and Two-Spirit… Tribal histories, languages around “Two-Spirit” people vary greatly, and individual family/clan histories and responsibilities as well as personal spiritual experiences may contribute to how people choose to identify themselves, and to whom.

15. Some Traditional Terms and Roles: • Nadleeh (Navajo) • Kwido (Tewa) • Winkte (Lakota Sioux) • Dubuds (Pauite) • Aayahkwew (Cree) • Ogokwe (Ojibwa) • Nadleehe(Dine’) • Winkte (Lakota) • Alyha (Mohave) • Ihamana (Zuni) • Mexoga (Omaha) • Achnucek (Aleut/Kodiak) • Ira’muxe (Zapotec) • He Man Eh (Cheyenne) • It is estimated that 168 (remaining) Native languages have terms for people who are not exclusively male or female (Garrett 2003) • Many cultures had or have distinct spiritual or social roles for individuals who are two-spirit, including marriage brokers, preparers of the dead

16. Pine Leaf (Crow) 1800s Dressed as female; Warrior with four wives • Running Eagle (Piegan) 1800s Warrior woman; belonged to a men’s society; had a spiritual vision that forbid her from marrying a man; had a woman partner • Lozen (Apache) 1850s-1889 Dressed as male, was a prophet; healer, warrior; had a vision to live as a man; could detect movement of enemies (NACE webinar K. Walters 2/18/12)

17. Contemporary Two-Spirit Definition The term is a “contested compromise to move forward the debate in eliminating culturally inappropriate terms,” and includes a wide variety of Native persons: “cross-dressers, transvestites, lesbian, gay, transgender, or “those otherwise ‘marked’ as ‘alternatively gendered’ within tribes, bands, and nations where multiple gender concepts occur” (Jacobs and Thomas 1994:7)

18. “But gay people, being both male and female, were seen as both warriors and caregivers. Gay people could do anything. They were like Swiss Army knives! My grandmother had no use for all the gay bashing and homophobia in the world, especially among other Indians. "Jeez," she said, who cares if a man wants to marry another man? All I want to know is who's going to pick up all the dirty socks?” ― Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (p. 155)

19. Example: Mojave Hwames The Hwame“was said to have dreamed her role in the womb and took up the lifestyle of a boy during her childhood. Hwames were generally respected as good hunters, warriors, shamans and sexual partners… The role of the Hwame was so fully accepted that Mojave society institutionalized it, providing an initiatory ritual that included the conferring of a name along with marriage rights (the Hwame’s wife retained the ordinary female status). It was not until the effects of colonization had taken root that the Hwame’s status began to decline” (Smith 1999)

20. Colonization: ‘Two-Spirit’ People • When the colonists arrived on Turtle Island and began killing Native Americans, many missionaries and colonists targeted two-spirit individuals in tribal communities for death since they were considered offensive to the church’s sensibilities. • Many Native communities hid their two-spirit individuals from the colonists. In some communities two-spirit people and their roles went underground, in other communities they were destroyed. • Many anthropological texts record two-spirit life prior to colonial alteration or destruction, and in some communities elders still recall the old traditions. • Conformity to European and Christian norms around gender and sexual identity were enforced in reservations and boarding schools.

21. Historical Trauma and Healing • Many communities now are not aware of their own two-spirit people and traditions, or have adopted a colonial or missionary perspective shared by the dominant society that sees two-spirit people as shameful. • This has created loss and trauma not only for individual two-spirits, but also for communities. • Providing acceptance to people who are two-spirit and recalling their traditions helps strengthen communities and reclaim traditional values.

22. Multiple Discriminations • Racism in non-Native LGBTQI communities • Objectification or eroticization of Native images • Invisibility in community settings • Heterosexism in Native communities • Denial of history and existence • Belief that same-sex relations and gender differences are only a part of White European culture • Shunning or being kicked or harassed out of communities or ceremonies • Avoidance of the topic

24. Youth Voice “I heard that (Aboriginal Trans-people) were teachers, medicine people, artists, counselors, dream interpreters, people with open arms who don’t push anyone away. I was reading that some of them were wives of chiefs and accepted. I thought I was the only kid like me and everyone says that. None of us knew about two-spirit or trans stuff” (Two-Spirited People of the First Nations 2008)

25. Youth Risks Homelessness • More than 50% of the homeless and runaway youth population identify as LGBT • Urban centers attract youth who are two-spirit from reservation communities, who run away or are thrown out of their homes • These cities are also often relocation areas from the federal Indian relocation program (1960s, etc.) Foster care • Native Americans: twice the rate of non-Natives • Non-straight youth in foster care (70%) report increased levels of physical violence (Mallon, 2001).

26. Mental Health Risks • LGBT/two-spirit identity and their Native identity; both groups experience higher rates of violence exposure compared to the general U.S. population. • Comparing two-spirit and non-Native LGBT persons, higher rates of physical assaults (36% vs. approx. 7%) and sexual assaults (29% vs. approx. 4.5%).6,7

27. Mental Health Risks • As a result of historical trauma, bias, stigma and abuse or isolation that can result from these experiences, many youth who are two-spirit have mental health and wellness needs. • In one study, Native men under age 25 who identified as “not heterosexual” had a high risk of suicide (25% versus 8%).4 • Two-spirit adults surveyed reported lifetime attempted suicide rates by over 50% of respondents, more (66%) if they had been in foster care, or experienced boarding school (82%) (Walters, Simoni, and Horwath, 2001) • Because Native American youth as a whole have an increased risk of suicide (5-14 times the risk) and LGBT youth have an increased risk of suicide (twice the risk)= youth who are two-spirit are particularly vulnerable compared to non-Native youth.

28. Trans Native Americans Injustice at Every Turn (2012): National Transgender Discrimination Survey: • American Indian and Alaskan Native transgender and gender non-conforming people: • 3.24% reported being HIV positive and an additional 8.53% reported that they did not know their status. • 2.64% for transgender respondents of all races, and 0.60% of the general U.S. population. • Fifty-six percent (56%) AI/AN transgender attempted suicide compared to 41% of all study respondents.

29. Who Are Two-Spirit People Today? We are relatives, friends, partners, brothers, sisters, clients, co-workers,community members

30. Two-Spirit Life Today • Retraditionalization: In urban settings in particular, participation in two-spirit groups and in accepting Native groups has helped strengthen identity and connection to cultural heritage. Identifying as two-spirit can be a part of that retraditionalizationprocess. (Straus and Valentino 2001). • There are groups in almost every urban area, either formal or informal, and Internet support resources. • 70% of Native people live off reservation or off tribal lands, with 65% living in cities; some two-spirit individuals reside in cities, some in reservations, and some move “back and forth.” • Some are still recognized and raised in traditional ways as two-spirit (or related term) in their tribal community.

31. Youth Voice “When you’re two-spirit you’re different and unaccepted and everybody in the family wants to make sure that fact is hidden. The only way you can be yourself is to leave the place, essentially [stop being] Native, which is to leave your family and try to find something elsewhere. Or you try to abandon that part of you, you drown it. And literally drown it. I think a lot of people drown themselves in alcohol, to try and suppress it and not to think.” (two-spirit focus group participant, Brotmanet al 2002)

32. Challenges in Identifying Native youth often have particular challenges speaking openly about their identity, due to: • Potential rejection from family, and therefore exclusion from the extended family unit of support and identity • Concerns about violent reactions • Word getting around in a small community • Lack of positive two-spirit role models as well as negative images of Natives in LGBT subculture and negative stories/images of LGBT people in Native communities

35. National Native American Aids Prevention Center (NNAAPC) “It Gets Better” Video • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNRv-UMDkdo&feature=player_embedded

36. Native Youth Visionaries Heather Purser, a 29-year-old seafood diver for Washington's Suquamish Tribe, spent four years pushing for her tribe to adopt a law recognizing same-sex marriages. Out since she was a teen, Pursser decided after college to approach her tribal council and ask for the change. Members said they'd consider it. Years later, she returned and asked again — this time reportedly demanding a voice vote, according to the Associated Press.  "Everyone said aye. No one said nay," Purser told the AP. Her family was in the audience, beaming proudly. On August 1, 2011, the Suquamish Tribe extended marriage rights to same-sex couples on its reservation (more than a year before the state voted on marriage equality). It was only the second tribe in the U.S. to do so (Oregon's Coquille Tribe first recognized same-sex marriages in 2005), and everyone admitted it wouldn't have happened without Purser standing up for her beliefs. (11/12)

37. PROCLAMATION OF THE OGLALA SIOUX TRIBEIN SUPPORT OF TWO-SPIRIT DIGNITY & HUMAN RIGHTS http://nace.samhsa.gov/blog/post/OGLALA-SIOUX-TRIBE-e28093-ISSUES-PROCLAMATION-FOR-TWO-SPIRITSe28099-DIGNITY-HUMAN-RIGHTS.aspx

38. https://graduate.lclark.edu/programs/indigenous_ways_of_knowing/tribal_equity_toolkit/https://graduate.lclark.edu/programs/indigenous_ways_of_knowing/tribal_equity_toolkit/

39. Latina/o LGBT Youth • Latinos comprise approximately 17% of the U.S. population; this proportion will grow • Latina/o youth experience challenges with issues of racism and bias because of gender identity/expression and sexual identity

40. Latina/o LGBT Youth: A Cultural Lens • Family may be very important to the coming out process within Latino culture • “Familism”: Cultural emphasis on responsibility to provide economic and emotional support to immediate and extended kin • Family can be a significant strength for LGBT Latina/o youth • Partly adapted from Bienestar Human Services, Inc., “Coming Out—A Family Affair, A Latina/o Perspective, presented at Creating Change 2013

41. Latina/o LGBT Youth: A Cultural Lens • Experience of gender expectations and roles that are culturally rooted (Marianismo & Machismo) • Collectivist cultural values versus individualistic social values • Sexuality is rarely discussed in Latino families, especially in the presence of women • Partly adapted from Bienestar Human Services, Inc., “Coming Out—A Family Affair, A Latina/o Perspective, presented at Creating Change 2013

42. Race and Sexual Identity • http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-10-15/local/35502731_1_groups-form-alliance-civil-marriage-gay-rights-groups • http://www.washingtonblade.com/2012/08/08/maryland-advocacy-groups-partner-on-same-sex-marriage-dream-act/

43. Latina/o LGBT Youth Coming Out Process • Research on coming out LGBT youth of color…some commonalities and differences with White LGBT youth* • How would a more culturally responsive, healing coming out process look for an LGBT Latina/o student? • * See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16817058; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15311975

44. Rich Diversity Among Latina/o LGBT Families and Students • There is deep diversity within Latino culture, for example: • Level of acculturation • Language • Country of origin/ancestry • Generation in the U.S. • Experience of stigma • Geographic location and rural/urban differences • Socio/economic status • “Mixed” racial/ethnic identity

45. Latina/o Family Story: SomosFamilia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLtHcbmvjAg

46. Latino Youth Coming Out Story “When I decided to come out I was really nervous. I wanted to tell my two sisters first since we have a very strong relationship; I consider them my best friends. If I were to tell anyone I was gay it would be them since we talk so much. When I did tell them, it was fine. I am still uneasy about telling my parents. My mom and I have always been extremely close and she is the nicest person, so I don’t anticipate a horrible reaction. I feel my dad is more unpredictable. He still holds some conservative ideas about gender and sexuality, but has become more open. I’m not sure if would be okay with his son being gay. I know they are both extremely proud of my academic and career accomplishments, so I know regardless of their initial reaction they will still love me. It’s my own uneasiness or fear that holds me back from telling them I’m gay, not necessarily their reaction.”

47. Strategies and recommendations

48. Strategies for Implementing Standards of Care for LGBT Youth • Practices that support identity • Healthy, supportive peer connections • Family connections • Access to affirming services and supports • Community outreach • Assessment and quality improvement • Nondiscrimination policies • Staff knowledge • Processes: Intake, data collection, information sharing • Safe, supportive environments

49. Assessment and Continuous Improvement Efforts • Conduct a school/community needs assessment • May be part of a PBIS survey • Understand capacity of teachers and staff to provide culturally competent supports to LGBT students • Aim to determine teacher and staff strengths and needs • Don’t stop with the assessment…infuse results into school improvement efforts

50. Develop Staff Capacity • Build staff capacity by using training curricula that effectively inform them about LGBT youth and address: • Key terms/concepts • Myths/stereotypes • Developmentally appropriate concerns • Importance of supporting students (e.g., safe spaces,.) • Approaches to working with families of LGBT youth • School and community resources • Involve all staff, including bus drivers, security staff, and cafeteria staff