 For centuries in many Native American tribes, there have been people that embody both male and female identities. For this week's In Focus, I drop by Bemidji State University's American Indian Resource Center as they held the inaugural Two-Spirit Awareness Day. The idea to hold the event came after Arnold Dalwule, a local Two-Spirit person, gave a talk about his identity at the AIRC earlier this year. They learned something that was something that was an abomination, something horrible. For colonization, Two-Spirit meant men within the tribes that carried out female roles, also known as the Burdache. Generally speaking, a lot of them were the real spiritual ones traditionally, the ones who carried out a lot of our traditional medicine tasks as well. But over time, many in the community felt like they couldn't embrace their identity and were outcast because of it. Now, many like Dalwule are reclaiming the term. We're not progressing to something new. We're dipping back into the past and remembering who we are. For those who are still struggling, the AIRC invited organizations to come provide resources for Two-Spirit people young, old, and everything in between. Northwood's Caregivers Consultant Glenda Duhamel advocates for better LGBT healthcare. We're discovering that we have a number of elderly folks in this area, or in the United States basically, who have not had services and have not had good care with the medical systems because of being LGBT. It's one of the many issues affecting Two-Spirit people. The World's AIDS Action Network is helping inform others about the increased risk for acquiring HIV and higher rates of substance abuse within the community. So we know that the better we can connect people to healthcare, the longer lives that they will probably live and the better health outcomes they'll have overall. Julie Kirschner-Prineta was excited to see them handing out overdose reversal kits and other supplies. But I'm also glad that the event is here to help people be able to be aware of our individuals that would like to come out and have not yet had the support of families. The AIRC hopes to expand the event in the future to show others that they're not alone. I have a large population of students that do identify with that population, and so the more that we can do to make them feel comfortable here, the more that we can do to bring awareness to some of the traditional ways that things were as well. I mean, we're definitely all for it. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.