Native American Program of Legal Aid Services of Oregon; the Indigenous Ways of Knowing Program at Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling; the Western States Center; the Pride Foundation; Basic Rights Oregon

Keywords: Best Practices; Juvenile Justice; Tribal Communities; Two-Spirit Youth

Tribal laws reflect our values as a people, define our collective barriers, prioritize our issues, allocate public resources, and identify eligibility for conferred status and public benefits and services. This Toolkit identifies areas in which existing tribal laws may discriminate against Two Spirit /LGBT individuals. The Toolkit also gives tribal legislators a brief overview of legal and policy issues that impact the equal treatment of Two Spirit/LGBT community members, and offers sample resolution and code language for tribal lawmakers to consider adopting to maximize equality within their communities.  

The purpose of this Toolkit is to protect the most vulnerable among us by facilitating the development of tribal laws that ensure that Two Spirit/LGBT people have the same access and opportunities as other community members. By making simple adjustments to laws and policies- such as creating an inclusive definition of family, or extending criminal laws to address hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity-tribal governments can exercise their sovereignty to better protect all of their tribal citizens. [Summary from resource.] 

File : pdf with 8.13 MB in size

Tribal Equity Toolkit 2.0: Tribal Resolutions and Codes to Support Two Spirit & LGBT Justice in Indian Country