Lakota Two-Spirit activist attends White House celebration

Candi Brings Plenty, Oglala Lakota, was invited to attend the White House's LGBTQ and Two-Spirit event on June 25

Candi Brings Plenty’s dedication to supporting and advocating for their Two-Spirit community has taken them across the United States, most recently to Washington D.C.

Brings Plenty, an Oglala Lakota Two-Spirit who is non-binary and uses both she and they pronouns, has advocated for their community for nearly two decades.

On June 20, Brings Plenty received notice that they’d been invited to attend the Biden Administration’s meeting celebrating LGBTQ and Two-Spirit Indigenous communities on June 25 in the nation’s capital. With just five days’ notice, Brings Plenty quickly shifted into fundraising mode to be able to make it to the celebration and represent the Black Hills.

Brings Plenty has been an activist for Two-Spirit people for nearly two decades, leading the Two-Spirit Society in Portland, Oregon and the Two Spirit Nation at the Oceti Sakowin Camp during the Standing Rock No-DAPL protests.

In Portland, Brings Plenty was instrumental in getting Two-Spirit people involved in the Portland Pride parade.

“I thought there would be a lot of progressive representation for Two-Spirit people, but they were still being erased,” Brings Plenty said. “Just like in every LGBTQ community, they were erasing Indigenous folks.”

In 2016, Brings Plenty got the parade to officially make a commitment to involve Indigenous people in their celebrations, but two months later she was drawn back to the Great Plains to the No-DAPL protests.

During the Standing Rock protests Brings Plenty met now secretary of the Department of the Interior, Deb Haaland, Pueblo of Laguna. One of Haaland’s children is Two-Spirit and the Two-Spirit Nation helped Haaland to understand her child’s identity and role as a Two-Spirit person.

“I’m pretty sure Deb is the one who invited me [to the White House],” Brings Plenty said.

The Two-Spirit White House event acted as a way for activists to gather and learn from each other.

While in D.C., Brings Plenty’s activism also led them to be invited to provide a land acknowledgment at the 2024 D.C. Women’s Strike on June 24.

Online, there was a callout for an advocate to speak on behalf of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People during the strike and Brings Plenty was asked to fill that role by her uncle, Enoch Brings Plenty Jr.

“I had no idea where and how big this was,” Brings Plenty said. “I was asked to speak on behalf of my opinions and the national [MMIP] epidemic.”

In April, Brings Plenty’s relative, actor Cole Brings Plenty, was found dead after disappearing on March 31. Cole’s uncle Enoch Jr. asked Brings Plenty if she’d speak on behalf of the family. So she did, wearing a ribbon skirt and holding an eagle feather fan. 

“[Haaland’s] daughter is the one who inspired me to wear a ribbon skirt,” Brings Plenty said. “It was a feminist activism callout so my first thought was to grab a ribbon skirt, but I knew that I had to take space and be a visual reminder.”

The protest didn’t go as smoothly as she’d hoped, Brings Plenty said. The land acknowledgment and their speaking were interrupted by counter-protesters. During the chaos, Brings Plenty fractured her foot, causing her to go home early and miss the White House Two-Spirit event reception. 

“Acknowledging Two-Spirits is suicide prevention in itself,” they said. “Pride did begin with protests, but Two-Spirit people have been celebrating and have been proud of themselves since first contact.”

On June 25, Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQ representatives gathered for a panel discussion and a photo. Afterward, Brings Plenty was able to meet again with Haaland.

Due to fracturing their foot during the women’s strike, Brings Plenty missed the reception following the Two-Spirit panel.

This December, Brings Plenty said they will be planning a Black Hills Two-Spirit pride event around the winter solstice.

Dateline:

RAPID CITY, S.D.