On Saturday, February 8, the 9th Annual Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS) Two-Spirits Powwow will be held at Fort Mason-Festival Pavilion in San Francisco from 10 am to 6 pm with featured dancers making their Grand Entry at Noon. This event is free and open to the public. BAAITS is the first established and largest public Two-Spirit powwow in the world.

A powwow is a traditional Native American event that gathers all tribes as well as inviting non-Native guests to learn more about Native cultures. Last year the event welcomed more than 5,000 people and an even larger crowd is expected this year. Vendors will be on site selling frybread, buffalo burgers, Native art and jewelry, and other crafts. This powwow features several hours of ceremonial honor dances, contest dances, and a drum contest; all powwow dancers and drums are welcome.

“Two-Spirit” is a Native American term for people with both female and male energies. Two-Spirits may (or may not) also identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. Traditionally Two-Spirit people often held—and many still hold— honored positions in their Native American and First Nations communities. Two-Spirit is a pan-tribal term—it is rooted in the Anishinaabe term describing such individuals: “niizh manidoowag.” This translates literally as “two spirits,” embodying both the feminine and the masculine in all of us. Two-Spirit is an addition, not a replacement term, for Indigenous communities that already have a term to signify gender and sexual orientation variance. Read more via San Francisco Bay Times