Two Spirit Talking Circle with Lenny Hayes

Chosen Family : Two Spirit Family and Community Building

A BAAITS Online Two Spirit Talking Circle with Lenny Hayes

February 5, 5-7pm

Registration Required for Zoom Link Join our next IndigeQueer online Talking Circle as we roll into our Powwow Week of Events Powwow Week is pretty special for our IndigeQueer community, and we're so happy our dear friend Lenny Hayes will join us again this year to help us circle up and get the week started. join us, as we discuss, Chosen Family, and the impact our Two Spirit family making has on our ongoing community building.

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BAAITS has held this very special series of Two Spirit Talking Circles all year long in response to community requests. These circles are created by and for Two Spirit, IndigeQueer, and Indigenous TG/GNC LGBQIA+ peoples, and we ask everyone who attends to be respectful of this focus.

There is no cost for our circles! We will host a monthly circle featuring different facilitators during the year. Please follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Eventbrite to receive notices of our upcoming programming.

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FOR ONLINE PARTICIPATION: Here are a few points to consider for our time together in circle:

*Quiet Space: Try to find yourself a quiet comfortable location to join us from where you can focus and be fully present.

*Sacred Space: You may wish to prepare your space if you can, by burning medicine to clear it out, lighting a candle, or do other grounding practices.

*Self Care: It's always good to have water or tea ready for yourself. Sometimes circles can bring up emotions, so we often have tissue close at hand to help with our healing tears.

Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS) exists to restore and recover the role of Two-Spirit people within the American Indian/First Nations community by creating a forum for the spiritual, cultural and artistic expression of Two-Spirit people.

Bio: Lenny Hayes, MA, is a citizen of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the northeast corner of South Dakota. Lenny is also owner and operator of Tate Topa Consulting, LLC and is currently in private practice specializing in Marriage Family Therapy. He has extensive training in mental and chemical health issues that impact the Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ and Native community. Lenny has traveled nationally and locally training and presenting on the issues that impact both the Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ individual and community. These issues include the Impact of Historical and Intergenerational Trauma on this population, violence of all forms, child welfare issues, and the Impact of Sexual Violence and Human Trafficking on Men and Boys which is a topic that is rarely discussed. Lenny is the former Missing and Murdered Two-Spirit Project Assistant for Sovereign Bodies Institute. Lenny is also a 2020 graduate of the Human Trafficking Leadership Academy Cohort 5.