Name Sheldon Raymore | ||
Sheldon raymore baaits powwow
Sheldon Raymore, a member of the Sioux Nation, is a Two-Spirit/Native community organizer.
Contents
American Indian Community House's Celebration of Rainbow Pride
Biography
Raymore grew up in South Dakota on the Cheyene River Sioux Reservation. As a self-identified homosexual, he has had to live through intolerance. Regardless, he is a competitive grass dancer on the national Pow-Wow circuit and has unified his Native and gay identities into a single Two-Spirit.
Working within the Two-Spirit Society, Raymore has worked with spiritual leaders and elder of his Nation to undo the impact of colonization on his people and the indigenous people of Turtle Island.
Since 2005, Sheldon has lived in New York City, and is a leader and board member of the NorthEast Two-Spirit Society (NE2SS), a NYC based organization. NYC is the home of the largest population of urban Indians living in an US city and he works to organize the Two-Spirit community both locally and nationally.
Sheldon has Two-Spirit co-presented at the University of Connecticut, Brown University, New Jersey City University, Princeton University, Drexel University, and the Native American Training Institute in New Mexico with Harlan Pruden. He also presented at the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference and was one of the lead organizers of the 2013 International Two-Spirit Gathering.
Projects and Community Outreach
In the spring of 2014, at a Tulsa Two-Spirit Gathering, he co-led a community education presentation on the current HIV biomedical intervention research projects. On March 20, 2014, for National Native American HIV/AIDS Awareness day, Sheldon co-presented a Two-Spirit talk at the American Indian Community House. Currently, he is the co-organizer and leader of NE2SS' weekly Pow-wow dance lessons, where he teaches basic pow-wow etiquette, each of the major dance styles, and the regalia associated with them.
Sheldon is also working on an dance project titled Rainbow Crow. The choreography of Rainbow Crow is based on the popular “Crow Hop” dance that is done at many of today’s pow-wows and uses the image of the Crow, which has no gender variance physically between the male/females. Rainbow Crow tells the story of the Two-Spirit people and their history. It is the intention for Rainbow Crow to be performed at Native gatherings and pow-wows to increase the visibility, and to promote healing by re-integrating the Two-Spirit community back into the sacred circle.