Wordsmiths: Barbara May Cameron

Barbara May Cameron (1954-2002) was an indigenous Two-Spirit activist who spent her life organizing and advocating for LGBTQIA+ Native Americans, both locally and internationally. She was the co-founder of Gay American Indians, and she wrote a number of searing essays, critiquing the racism and homophobia she saw and experienced.

For Further Reading: 

• Gee, You Don’t Seem Like An Indian From the Reservation
• The Indigenous Activist Who Demanded Inclusion for All LGBTQ+ People
• A Forgotten Pioneer: The Two-Spirit Activism of Barbara Cameron

This Pride Month, we’re talking about wordsmiths. Women who used language to create community, give a voice to change, and inspire future generations to do the same.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Wamanica. This Pride Month, we're talking about wordsmiths, women
who use language to create community, give a voice to change,
and inspire future generations to do the same. In the
heavy heat of a South Dakota summer, a little girl
and her grandmother practiced a ritual. They would set out

(00:25):
with white tin pails, past the slumbering rattlesnakes, make their
way down the path they always took to the cherry trees.
And throughout this entire journey, the little girl would talk
about her dreams, her convictions, her beliefs, and her grandmother
would listen to her and believe her. That little girl's
dreams and convictions never faded, Her power to write about

(00:49):
them and act on them only grew. Let's talk about
Barbara May Cameron. Barbara was born in nineteen fifty four.
She grew up on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, surrounded
by her Lakota community. Barbara later wrote that on the reservation,
people had a relaxed yet respectful code of relating with

(01:10):
each other. They traded jokes, teased each other, and found
time for summer cherry picking. This was in stark contrast
to the white community that Barbara encountered outside of the reservation.
They lived in houses separated by fences. To Barbara, their
way of life seemed cold and violent. By five years old,

(01:31):
Barbara had witnessed a group of white boys attack an
elderly Native American man and had seen a police officer
kill another Native American man. She was no stranger to funerals,
but Barbara always believed she could do anything and be
anything she wanted to be. At nine, Barbara told her
grandmother she wanted to live in San Francisco and save

(01:53):
the world too. In nineteen seventy three, before her twentieth birthday,
Barbara accomplished her first goal. She moved to San Francisco
and enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute. Two years later,
she co founded an organization called Gay American Indians. The
organization was a space for two spirit people, a term

(02:14):
referring to Native Americans who have both masculine and feminine
spirits and used by many Natives who identify as LGBTQ plus.
Gay American Indians created room for two spirit people to meet, socialize,
and exchange ideas and information. Barbara started the group in
part because the broader LGBTQ community in San Francisco was

(02:36):
largely white and often actively racist. Barbara channeled these experiences
into her writing. She penned deeply personal and biting essays
and commentary. In her essayge you Don't Seem like an
Indian from the Reservation, she recounted the feelings of panic
that sometimes overcame her when standing in all white rooms.

(02:58):
She wrote, quote, I want to scream out my anger
and disgust with myself for feeling distrustful of my white friends,
and I want to banish the society that has fostered
those feelings of alienation. Barbara worked to create a new
society throughout the nineteen eighties. She organized the Lesbian Gave
Freedom Day parade and celebration. She co chaired Lesbian Agenda

(03:22):
for Action. She was appointed to multiple committees focused on
community development and human rights. She worked tirelessly to eradicate
racism in queer spaces, and she demanded that white people
do the same. She also continued writing about her experiences
and the experiences of two spirit people. More broadly, she

(03:42):
published essays in several books, including This Bridge called My
Back Writings by Radical Women of Color and A Gathering
of Spirit, a collection of writing and art by North
American Indian women. During the AIDS crisis, Barbara traveled to
Berlin to attend the ninth International Conference on AIDS along

(04:02):
with other Natives. She advocated for Native visibility in the
AIDS crisis and stood in solidarity with Indigenous people across
the world. Later, Barbara also consulted with the US Department
of Health and Human Services and the CDC, advising them
on their AIDS and immunization programs. In all of her work,
both domestically and internationally, Barbara made sure two spirit people

(04:25):
were included in the conversation. Barbara died in two thousand
and two at the age of forty seven. She was
buried right outside the reservation where she grew up, among
the same hills she walked while picking cherries with her grandmother.
All month, We're talking about Wordsmiths. For more information, find

(04:46):
us on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast special thanks
to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator. Talk
to you tomorrow.