On June 25th, the Paths (Re)Membered Project partnered with Hailey Tayathy, Friends of the Waterfront Seattle, yəhaw̓ Indigenous Creatives Collective, and Indigenize Productions to host the Indiqueer Joy Festival, a celebration of the joy of our Two Spirit and Indigiqueer relatives. About 300 people came to the festival, watching performances, finding resources to help them continue to thrive, and building community. Here are a couple of their stories.
Ramonda Holiday
I’m Navajo from the Navajo reservation. I’m a trans woman of color, and a transwoman of experience. The festival was such an enjoyable experience. Just amazing. At check-in, I was greeted by a Pride celebration at the hotel. We had little gifts in our rooms to celebrate Pride—candies and feathers and make-up. I kept bragging to everyone about what a great view I had. We ventured out the night before the festival. We got to meet each other. The hotel had a DJ in the lounge and this festive ambiance, which I loved. You were in this world of rainbows and unicorns.
The next day we got to go to the festival. I’ve been to a lot of festivals. I’ve been to a lot of places, and I’ve been involved in a lot of concerts. This one was so welcoming. I think from the moment I got there, the love, the joy, the happiness just escalated. Everyone was so professional. I was performing, and the backstage was so friendly, always making sure I was hydrated, asking was I hungry, was I nervous. Amazing. As a performer, feeling comfortable backstage is huge. It makes the performance go great, effortlessly. You can feel the energy from people. And then as I’m performing, I’m looking out, making eye contact, and everyone is engaged, everyone is listening, everyone is participating. Everyone was there to support. There was a lot of love, a lot of unity, even though there were people that were just walking by or stopping to take a picture. As I’m performing, I can feel the energy. I can feel the flow of everything. And the stage backed up to the water, so I was singing right in front of the water, in this beautiful space. Downtown Seattle, seeing the skyscrapers. The joy just escalated, shooting through the roof.
And not only did it bring all of us together for that day, it brought us closer after that day. The people that I went with from Albuquerque, we bonded together. We had dinner recently, and we talked how it brought us all closer.
I’m a joyous, happy, upbeat, optimistic person by nature. Right now I’m planning a wedding, and me and my partner’s album is dropping on August 5th! (Find “Amazing Love” by Focus and Ramonda on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you get your music). But having all these different things going on has taken a lot out of me. Going to the Indigiqueer Joy Festival brought me peace and joy and comfort and love. I felt like, It’s gonna be okay. It was like a mini vacation for me to regroup and perform and share my gifts and my experience with people. I’ll never forget it—this love you guys showed as my distant relatives.
Noquisi Bizzell
I’m 23 years old. I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I am Cherokee. When I first got into Seattle for the Indigiqueer Joy Festival, I almost cried. That was the first time I’ve left Oklahoma. You come in on the plane—my first plane ride—with Mount Rainier right there. It’s just breathtaking. Everything was a complete culture shock. My favorite part was that nobody stared at me, which people do a lot in the south. It was great to feel invisible. I remember walking up to the pier, and everybody was so nice, greeting me. I was still just shocked that I was there, so I didn’t say much. But I had an amazing time. It was beautiful. All the people, all the performances—Ramonda’s singing, the breakdancing—they were amazing. There was a lot of joy.
And alongside that joy, I remember being at the hotel with Roe v. Wade protests happening right there. And it made me happy to see people actually showing up, speaking out against that decision. So seeing that happening alongside the Indigiqueer Joy Festival was like—okay, somebody is doing something over there while I’m over here, celebrating my culture and who I am as a person.
Going to the festival made me want to try new things and experience other people. It makes such a difference just knowing that there’s other people like me out there. I can text them and have that support system. You know what I mean? Y’all understand where I’m coming from, versus my other queer friends probably won’t. I feel like that connectedness was what I needed most. I’m usually very high anxiety, but overall I’ve been a happier person since going to the festival. Now I know that I can get out of Oklahoma and do things for myself, not just stay here and be miserable. I finally found a community that I know supports me, and it’s opened a lot of doors for me. And that’s brought me a lot of happiness.
Photos taken by Robert Wade
