Ian Parks, Two Spirits and Doug Spearman on OUTSpoken

Where the Bears Are:

Ian is a film school graduate and moved to Los Angeles from his home state of Pennsylvania. He has worked a variety of jobs in the film industry and is currently a successful editor and sound designer for features, as well as an actor in his off time.

Visit wherethebearsare.tv  To watch Ian and the rest of the cast.

First Episode Season 1

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Two Spirits:

Raven Heavy Runner is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana. He was raised both on the Blackfeet Reservation and Seattle Washington. Raven was a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school youth, Seattle street kid, U.S. Army veteran, stage actor, Two-Spirit leader, Native Activist, college graduate, Indian Child Welfare social worker, and storyteller. He was partly raised on the Blackfeet Reservation with his grandparents. Raven in the chair of the Northwest Two-Spirit Society, a board member of the Montana Two-Spirit Society and the Northwest Two-Spirit Society’s delegate to the International Council of Two-Spirit Societies. He sits on several other Native boards and currently works as a social worker with Native Elders in Western Washington.

Co Guest – My name is Steven Barrios (Long Time Holy Rain) Blackfeet. I was born in Yakima, WA and raised on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana. In my role as a Two-Spirit leader I have served on the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center Harm Reduction Board, Montana Gay Men’s Task Force, Montana’s Harm Reduction Team, Montana CPG,
Montana Two-Spirit Board Member [19 years], Pride Institute Steering Committee and their Racial Equity Initiative. I have also been involved in HIV prevention for the past 19 years, which includes providing HIV testing and counseling.

This includes work as a Hep C Educator. For the past several years, I’ve been providing Two-Spirit presentations to the general public, but also providing this information to Native people who identify as LGBTQ, hoping to instill as sense of pride and connection to who that are as Native people.. This work is my passion.

Visit these links to learn more:

Raising Two-Spirit Youth: by National Resource Center for Tribes

Tribal Equity Toolkit by Indigenous Ways of Knowing

Becoming Two Spirit by Brian Joseph Gilley

The Spirit and the Flesh by Walter Williams

Living the Spirit by Will Roscoe

Two-Spirit defined by wikipedia

Two-Spirits the movie

The International Council of Two-Spirit Societies [Most are found on Facebook]

Montana Two-Spirit Society
Manitoba Two-Spirit Society
Northwest 2-Spirit Society
Edmonton Two-Spirit Society
Texas Two-Spirit Society
Awowaki
East Coast Two-Spirit Society
Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits

Header Graphic from Poster of 2016 Texas Two Spirits posterand Crowd funding  https://www.gofundme.com/texastwospiritspride

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Doug Spearman

Doug Spearman is an actor/activist/writer/and now film director. His first feature, Hot Guys with Guns won several awards at more than 40 festivals around the world including being short listed for Best Original Song in the 2015 Academy Awards. Hot Guys with Guns was released on multiple platforms in April 2014 by Wolfe Releasing. He is currently in production with his second film, From Zero to I Love You. Doug is also a Master Class Scene Study teacher at the RLS Studios under Richard Lawson. 

 

On stage Doug has starred in such productions as the American premiere of the British drama, The Ice Pick at the Celebration Theater in Los Angeles, the Men’s Room, Moscow, A Few Good Men, and the world premiere of the Tony Awardwinning South Coast Repertory’s production of The Hollow Lands, by Howard Corder and his favorite role as the god Dionysus in The Bacchae at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. On television Doug has appeared in America’s Most Wanted, The Drew Carey Show, Star Trek Voyageur, Girlfriends, The Huguleys, The Wanda Sykes Show and as Professor Chance Counter in Noah’s Arc on LOGO. 

 

His community involvement includes working for the HRC, GLADD, The Black AIDS Institute, SMYLE in Washington, D.C., Lifeworks Mentoring in West Hollywood, Outfest and serving on the Board of Directors of Equality California, The Relational Center in Los Angeles, and The Celebration Theater in West Hollywood. 

 

Doug has been honored with many awards including a Leadership Award by the Human Rights Campaign which was presented before the United States Senate, The Connie Norman Award from C.S.W. for for outstanding achievement in fostering racial, ethnic, religious and gender unity within the LGBT community, The Advocacy Award from the United Teachers Association and an Image Award from the Jordan Rustin Coalition in Los Angeles. Instinct Magazine named Doug as one of its Leading Men of 2013.

 

FROM ZERO TO I LOVE YOU