This Puyallup Tribe event ‘isn’t about coming out, it’s about coming to light’
The Puyallup Tribe of Indians is supporting its LGBTQ+ tribal and community members with its third annual Pride month and festival.
“Puyallup means ‘generous and welcoming to all people’ and this is us walking the walk,” said Tribal Council Member Annette Bryan, who has been with her wife for 24 years. “It helps us lift each other up and people can look around and see who their allies are and who they can go to for support.”
To honor lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual, and Two-Spirit communities, the tribe held its second in-person Pride celebration at Chief Leschi Schools on Sunday, July 25. About 100 tribal members and members of the community gathered at the football stadium. The celebration was held virtually last year due to COVID restrictions.
The event was opened by emcee David Bearshield and included a prayer from Puyallup elder and culture director Connie McCloud, a song from the Puyallup Language Program and remarks from tribal council members.
“All peoples have a right to be a people, to make their own choices, to live their own lives. Especially deep personal choices. And I’m proud to support this,” said Puyallup Tribal Chairman Bill Sterud.
Entertainment booths, vendors and inflatable bounce houses decorated the school’s football stadium. A stage sat at the touchdown line where the Filthy FemCorps band rocked out and drag queens performed emotional lip-syncs.
Event organizers chose five attendees to be Pride Royalty: Ava Richotte of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes member Phoenix Johnson, Elijah Campbell from the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and Puyallup tribal members Araquin Boome and Seets’atulth Janzen.
“This isn’t about coming out, it’s about coming to light,” said Will Booth, a Two-Spirit Ts’msyen tribal member and founder of the Duwamish Native Veterans Program.
The Puyallup Tribal Council passed a resolution in 2019 declaring July as Pride Month and recognized the historical and cultural existence of LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit individuals prior to European contact, becoming one of the first tribes in the nation to do so, Bryan said.
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Natasha Brennan covers Washington state tribes’ impact on our local communities, environment and politics, as well as traditions, culture and equity issues, for McClatchy media companies in Bellingham, Olympia, Tacoma and Tri-Cities.
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“It’s hard enough being Native American with all the trauma that we felt, but to not have your community embrace you? That’s why the resolution was really important,” Bryan said.
The tribe recognized same-sex unions in 2014. A custom-designed Puyallup Tribe Pride flag was raised July 1 at the tribe’s administration building in Tacoma.
“It really brings the community together and lets them know this is a safe place to be. I hope to see other tribes follow the lead and example that the Puyallup Tribe has set,” she said.
This story was originally published July 26, 2021 at 12:52 PM.
