Two-Spirit & LGBTQIA+ MHS Mapping Project

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  WGSS 374 2025 Student Mapping Projects

  Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies-Winona State University; Arianna Krogseng; Chloe Struss; Arthur Tronnes; Bug Kemper; Temki Newell; Nicholas Fryer; Kendall Roland; Alex Peachey; Amelie Pflamminger; Lauren Condon; Sophia Crowe; Casey Klein; Madyson Fischer; and Chloe Smith

  This description is a work in progress with Digital Collections and WGSS faculty.

  This student project was a part of the spring 2025 Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) WGSS 374: Queer Liberation Theories and Politics course. Students studied the Greater Minnesota Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ History Map to contribute to the map and our queer history.

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  On the Map: Queer Communities, Lived Experiences, and the Road to Liberation: A Panel Discussion

  Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies-Winona State University; Moonboy; Delta Eddy; Katie Mueller-Freitag; and Lyn

  “We all have a story. Long stories. Short stories. Some have endings. Some don’t. Our stories are what make us up, our points of reference. So many stories have yet to be told. And so many stories have yet to be validated. Here, validation means listening, not just hearing. It means taking someone’s feelings seriously and not making light of them. It means being honest and communicative. It means letting someone know they are an important person” (Free Winona: Journal of Mutual Aid, March 2009).

  As part of the course WGSS 374: Queer Liberation Theories and Politics, we studied the Greater Minnesota Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ History Map to contribute to the map and our queer history. As part of this research, we examined the archive of Free Winona, which reminds us of the importance of not just hearing but listening.

  As we have learned, core to the history of struggle for queer liberation has been mutual aid. For instance, Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) work to ensure secure food, housing, and self-determination for LGBTQ+ youth in 1970s New York. According to Dean Spade: "Mutual aid is a form of political participation in which people take responsibility for caring for one another…by actually building new social relations that are more survivable” (Spade, pg. 136). Free Winona, a mutual aid journal from 2008-2009, is a reminder that mutual aid strategies are practices in rural spaces for liberation.

  During this research event, students will create a living community archive to provide a space to listen and learn about liberation, collective care, and connect the past and present. We invite you to explore our research and conversation with LGBTQ+ elders, organizers, and troublemakers who will be interviewed by student scholars on the first floor of the Krueger Library to continue expanding our understanding of the Greater Minnesota Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ History Map.