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Decolonized Beatz
Indigenous World Pride

May 30 + June 1, 2025 • Washington, DC

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decolonized beatz indigenous world pride 
May 30 + June 1, 2025

Decolonized Beatz Indigenous World Pride 2025 is a global event
celebrating the powerful creativity of 2SLGBTQIA+ Indigenous artists,
performers, and storytellers. Set to take place on May 30 and June 1, 2025, at The REACH, at The Kennedy Center and The Atlas Performing Arts Center in Piscataway Land (“Washington, D.C.”), DBIWP coincides with World Pride and amplifies the voices of Indigenous Queer and Two-Spirit people on a global stage.

schedule

IndigenousWorldPrideCC
MAY 30, 2025
Kennedy Center- River Pavilion
2700 F St NW, Washington, DC 20037

4:30 PM   DOORS OPEN

4:30 PM – CLOSE   INDIGIQUEER POPUP MARKET

5:00 – 6:00 PM   INDIGENEITY, GENDER, SEXUALITY & DECOLONIZATION

6:10 – 6:50 PM   LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

7:10 – 8:15 PM   INDIGIQUEER STORYTELLING IN ARTS & MEDIA NOW!

8:15 – 8:30 PM   CLOSING

june 1, 2025
atlas performing arts center
1333 H St NE, Washington, DC 20002

4:30 PM   DOORS OPEN

5:00 – 6:30 PM   INDIGIQUEER YOUTH FILM SCREENING + DISCUSSION

6:30 – 7:30 PM   RECEPTION 

7:30 – 9:00 PM   LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

9:00 – 10:00 PM   DANCE PARTY

POP UP MARKET

To foster economic opportunities in our communities, DBIWP will also host an Indigenous pop-up market at the Kennedy Center, where creators can showcase and sell their work. From Native fashion to publications, community members will have the opportunity to promote their work to a broader audience, helping attract some of the more than three million people expected to attend World Pride 2025 in D.C. to support Indigiqueer and local businesses.

If you are interested in vending, then email us and introduce yourself and your business at info@crushingcolonialism.org

 

A black and white photo of two Native people wearing sunglasses and Crushing Colonialism tshirts sit beind a table of Crushing Colonialism merchandise. They’re outside and people are in the background.
Photo of nine Indigenous women and Two-Spirits sitting around a large drum singing and hitting the drum with drumsticks. An audience watches in the background. Photo credit Jen Deerinwater.

The Medicine Bundle

All of our events will also feature a public health table that will include (based on donations) safer sex supplies, HIV and STI at-home tests, COVID-19 safety supplies and tests, and other health promotion supplies and materials, including Indigiqueer posters from the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board. These practices help to further ensure the successful life-long careers of Indigiqueer creatives and the health and well-being of all who attend DBIWP, but most importantly for underserved Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+ community members.

Hope Album

In 2024, Indigiqueer recording artist Tony Enos (Cherokee), produced an album of seven songs by Indigiqueer musicians from around the world. The album includes a song, Hope, written collectively by all of the artists on the album. The album will be released for free digitally in 2025 to kick off Indigenous World Pride.

Enos is a two-time Native American Music Awards Nominee. Enos has produced six solo albums and co-wrote and produced an original song with Jen Deerinwater and Marcy Angeles for the 2021 Disability Futures Virtual Festival, funded by the Ford Foundation.

may 30, 2025 | Kennedy center - river pavillion

INDIGENEITY, GENDER, SEXUALITY & DECOLONIZATION

An educational conversation featuring Indigiqueer people with varying queer identities discussing Indigenous sexuality and gender with a global lens.

A Native person poses for a photo focused on their face. They’re wearing black glasses with rainbow details, a black shirt, and tan vest. They’re brown hair is chin length, asymmetrical cut, has small purple and pink highlights, and is parted to the right.
Oswin latimer

Moderator

Oswin Latimer (fae/they) is the treasurer for Crushing Colonialism. Fae is an autistic, Choctaw, trans, queer activist and educator with a long history of working against supremacism in faer disability justice work. Oswin has extensive experience doing policy work in education, healthcare, and employment through an intersectional lens. Oswin is the founding director of Foundations for Divergent Minds (FDM), an intersectional, Autistic-run organization that focuses on improved quality of life for Autistic people, particularly those who are multiply marginalized by colonialist systems. Fae also acts as an Autistic consultant and provides anti-ableist education and support for dismantling oppressive practices that particularly harm disabled, 2SLGBTQIA+, and BIPoC folx.

Johnnie Jae, a native women with short black hair and brown eyes staring straight ahead while wearing a coral lipgloss, a white graphic tee and a coral cardigan sweater.
Johnnie Jae

Panelist

Johnnie Jae is an Asexual Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw multimedia journalist, artist, speaker, advocate, and most importantly, a community builder. Through workshops, speaking engagements, and resource development, Jae empowers Indigenous communities to reclaim and assert their narratives, believing in the power of radical imagination and education to drive healing and transformation. Jae is the founder of A Tribe Called Geek and Grim Native. They are a coordinating council member and co-lead of the Sharing the Story committee for the Walking in the Footsteps of Our Ancestors Project as well as the host of the podcast “Talking In the Footsteps of Our Ancestors”. They are also a registered artist with the Choctaw Nation and artist with Eighth Generation.

A person with long red, orange and pink hair with large blue glasses who is smiling wearing a black and green collared jacket. The background is grey with rainbow lights in the distance.
MANDY HENNINGHAM

Panelist

Mandy Henningham (she/they) is an Aboriginal queer sociologist of health, sexuality and gender at the University of Sydney. She has a strong history of advocacy and research in diverse sex, gender and sexualities and brings a multidisciplinary lens to empower marginalized voices, as well as being involved in projects regarding Indigenous Australians and cancer. They are currently involved in bi+ research and lived experiences of dual identities.

live entertainment

Tony Enos

Hailed as “an example of possibility for people living with HIV,” by the Advocate Magazine, two-time Native American Music Award Nominee and Cherokee two-spirit musician Tony Enos celebrates 15 years as a singer/songwriter/producer/ entertainer and activist. The Kennedy Center performer and United States U=U ambassador continues to foster love, unity, and awareness in all that he does. Empowering the resilience of the human spirit through the medicine of music.

Lady Shug

Lady Shug is a Indigenous Native of the Diné (Navajo) Nation from the four corners area in New Mexico USA. Lady Shug is fighting for equal rights as an activist for her 2SLGBTQ indigenous relatives, to create equal rights in rural areas and reservations that do not normally protect those on indigenous lands. Shug's creativity has connected with her passion of drag and female impersonation, to use her platform on stage and to stand in solidarity or create social movements in her drag performances. Featured on such as USA today, New York Times, VICE, Vouge Spain, and PBS networks. Also on HBO Emmy Winning special “We’re Here,” The series follows us going to small towns and empowering everyone to the art form of drag. Shug is a co-creator & currently on tour for the #LaLaLandBack Tour which highlights indigenous drag & queer artistry all over the US & now the world.

Ritni Tears

Máret Ásllat Ivvár Ovllá Nilla Ritni Ráste, Ritni Ráste Pieski (he/him) is a Deanu river Sámi storyteller, dancer, performer, choreographer and drag artist. Decoloniality, collectivity, radical dreaming, utopias, drag, joy, playfulness, queering and humour are important to his artistic work. In drag he is known as Ritni Tears. Pieski's latest and proudest works include: Indigenous Drag Excellence XXL with Aunty Tamara, Feather Talia and Randy River and the decolonial queer utopia Girjái.

Indigiqueer Storytelling in Arts & Media NOW!

Discussion with the DBIWP council about the importance of Indigiqueer stories, art, media, and the work Crushing Colonialism has done to empower Indigiqueer Creatives.

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Jen Deerinwater

Panelist

Jen Deerinwater is a bisexual, Two-Spirit, multiply-disabled, citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and an award-winning journalist and organizer who covers the myriad of issues hir communities face with an intersectional lens. Jen is the founding executive director of Crushing Colonialism, an Indigenous storytelling, arts, and media non-profit organization in the so-called US. Jen has been awarded several fellowships, including the 2019 New Economies Reporting Project Fellowship, 2020 Disability Futures Fellowship, and the 2024 Disability Visibility fellowship at the Unexpected Shape Writing Academy.

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Tony Enos

Panelist

Hailed as “an example of possibility for people living with HIV,” by the Advocate Magazine, two-time Native American Music Award Nominee and Cherokee two-spirit musician Tony Enos celebrates 15 years as a singer/songwriter/producer/entertainer and activist. The Kennedy Center performer and United States U=U ambassador continues to foster love, unity, and awareness in all that he does. Empowering the resilience of the human spirit through the medicine of music.

images (18)
Rivolta Sata

Panelist

Rivolta Sata is a multidisciplinary artist from Afriqiyah and Abya Yala creating a cultural dialogue using various forms of media to build awareness for minority communities, emphasizing Indigenous communities as knowledge holders from a global perspective. 

They focus on cultural preservation, eco-accountability, and de-colonization in the mind spirit, and body, taking a look at systems of change and ancestral memory as a form of dance and body movement for healing and grieving daily life, past transgressions and violence inflicted through centers of mis-education and our government systems.

A picture of a smiling Native person in glasses with face tattoos and a button-up collared shirt is on a yellow background.
Theo Jean Cuthand

Panelist

Theo Jean Cuthand (b. 1978 Regina SK) is an experimental/narrative filmmaker and indie game developer working with sexuality, madness, Indigiqueer/2S identity and Indigeneity, which have screened in festivals and galleries internationally. He is Plains Cree/Scots, a member of Little Pine First Nation, residing in Toronto, Canada.

A person with long red, orange and pink hair with large blue glasses who is smiling wearing a black and green collared jacket. The background is grey with rainbow lights in the distance.
MANDY HENNINGHAM

Panelist

Mandy Henningham (she/they) is an Aboriginal queer sociologist of health, sexuality and gender at the University of Sydney. She has a strong history of advocacy and research in diverse sex, gender and sexualities and brings a multidisciplinary lens to empower marginalized voices, as well as being involved in projects regarding Indigenous Australians and cancer. They are currently involved in bi+ research and lived experiences of dual identities.

JUNE 1, 2025 | Atlas Performing Arts Center

INDIGIQUEER YOUTH FILM SCREENING + DISCUSSION

A film screening and discussion with Theo Cuthand and the Indigiqueer youth who participated in our 2024 DBIPW Indigequeer film training.

A picture of a smiling Native person in glasses with face tattoos and a button-up collared shirt is on a yellow background.
Theo Jean Cuthand

Panelist

Theo Jean Cuthand (b. 1978 Regina SK) is an experimental/narrative filmmaker and indie game developer working with sexuality, madness, Indigiqueer/2S identity and Indigeneity, which have screened in festivals and galleries internationally. He is Plains Cree/Scots, a member of Little Pine First Nation, residing in Toronto, Canada.

unnamed (6)
Yinet Molero

Panelist

My name is Yinet Molero. I am 25 years old, and I love the freedom to live authentically. In my short life, I have been many things, but what I value most is my personality and my conviction for freedom. I have worked in my community as a volunteer, participating in activities such as painting, reading, recycling, and helping animals. I love my neighbors because, as our slogan says, “Love is love, without discrimination based on race, creed, or sexual orientation.”

unnamed (8)
Mohammed Zahif

Panelist

Mohammed Zahif, 22, is a queer Muslim from Fiji with Rotuman and Indo-Fijian heritage. He is a fourth-year student at the University of the South Pacific, majoring in Law and Psychology. Zahif created and hosts “The Yess Kween Show,” the Pacific’s first LGBTQIA+ podcast. Active in the Pacific Sexual and Gender Diversity Network and Rainbow Pride Foundation, he served as a media volunteer and Fijian delegate at the 3rd Pacific Human Rights Conference. Inspired by his mentor, Zahif strives to foster dialogue and support for marginalized communities through his podcast and advocacy work, championing human rights and inclusivity.

unnamed (9)
Tatiana Villegas

Panelist

I am a Queer, mixed-race member of the Tlingit and Haida Tribes, born and raised in Seattle, Washington. My upbringing in the “Emerald City” and within these communities has shaped me into a confident, resilient, creative, and driven individual. 

Passionate about my Indigenous and Queer identities, I focus my socio-political work and research on highlighting the challenges and strengths of underrepresented communities. I envision possibilities beyond Western norms and strive to connect with our land whenever possible.

My interests lie in the relationship between people and our environments, particularly exploring how healing damaged lands can also heal our communities.

unnamed (10)
Destiny “Desy” Whitaker

Panelist

Destiny “Desy” Whitaker (She/Her/They) is a proudly neurodivergent and disabled 22-year-old PG County born and NC-raised artist active both on stage and behind the scenes who is also a writer, researcher, and marketer. She is a black and Indigenous queer femme who descends from both enslaved African ancestors and free people of color from the Carolinas. With an eclectic range of titles and interests, she prioritizes accessibility and inclusivity for those who like her.

live entertainment

Tony Enos

Hailed as “an example of possibility for people living with HIV,” by the Advocate Magazine, two-time Native American Music Award Nominee and Cherokee two-spirit musician Tony Enos celebrates 15 years as a singer/songwriter/producer/ entertainer and activist. The Kennedy Center performer and United States U=U ambassador continues to foster love, unity, and awareness in all that he does. Empowering the resilience of the human spirit through the medicine of music.

Lady Shug

Lady Shug is a Indigenous Native of the Diné (Navajo) Nation from the four corners area in New Mexico USA. Lady Shug is fighting for equal rights as an activist for her 2SLGBTQ indigenous relatives, to create equal rights in rural areas and reservations that do not normally protect those on indigenous lands. Shug's creativity has connected with her passion of drag and female impersonation, to use her platform on stage and to stand in solidarity or create social movements in her drag performances. Featured on such as USA today, New York Times, VICE, Vouge Spain, and PBS networks. Also on HBO Emmy Winning special “We’re Here,” The series follows us going to small towns and empowering everyone to the art form of drag. Shug is a co-creator & currently on tour for the #LaLaLandBack Tour which highlights indigenous drag & queer artistry all over the US & now the world.

Ritni Tears

Máret Ásllat Ivvár Ovllá Nilla Ritni Ráste, Ritni Ráste Pieski (he/him) is a Deanu river Sámi storyteller, dancer, performer, choreographer and drag artist. Decoloniality, collectivity, radical dreaming, utopias, drag, joy, playfulness, queering and humour are important to his artistic work. In drag he is known as Ritni Tears. Pieski's latest and proudest works include: Indigenous Drag Excellence XXL with Aunty Tamara, Feather Talia and Randy River and the decolonial queer utopia Girjái.

Rivolta Sata

Rivolta Sata is a multidisciplinary artist from Afriqiyah and Abya Yala creating a cultural dialogue using various forms of media to build awareness for minority communities, emphasizing Indigenous communities as knowledge holders from a global perspective. 

They focus on cultural preservation, eco-accountability, and de-colonization in the mind spirit, and body, taking a look at systems of change and ancestral memory as a form of dance and body movement for healing and grieving daily life, past transgressions and violence inflicted through centers of mis-education and our government systems.

9A

Nyna Matowin a.k.a. 9a (pronounced: "nee-nuh") is a multi-award-winning Oglala Lakota singer / songwriter based on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. In their music, she features a story entitled "the oglala wolf puppy w/ PTSD" which chronicles their process of reconnecting to her Lakota culture, language and healing the ramifications of intergenerational trauma brought upon by colonization. They bill their style as "Lakota pop", incorporating Lakota language, culture in a modern context while bringing in multiple genres. They hope to speak directly to their Oceti Sakowin relatives in hopes of empowering our communities back to themselves & homelands.