Joey Criddle was born on January 9, 1961 in Eupora, Mississippi. His mother was Jicarilla Apache and his father was white, and Joey grew up in the predominantly white and Black working class community in Kilgore Hills. Although his mother tried her best to encourage Joey to assimilate into white culture, he always remained connected to his grandmother, who taught him about life on the reservation and fed him delicious Native dishes. His cousins introduced him to beadwork, moccasin-making, and making bow and arrows. 

Growing up, Joey was surrounded by homophobic rhetoric, so while he always knew that he was attracted to other men, he was terrified to come out. He pushed himself to date girls, got an ex-partner pregnant at 16, and became a single father at 17. He started taking his son to Pentecostal church, where he loved the community there and prayed to not be gay anymore. As he gradually became more involved in the Pentecostal church over the years, the dissonance from hiding his sexuality kept mounting. During these young adult years, Joey fathered 3 more children with an ex-wife. 

One fateful day, he was driving on the freeway to Atlanta and praying about being gay, when suddenly he came to terms with the realization that the Creator chose for him to be gay. He pulled over and cried tears of joy as emotion washed over him. 

Joey juggled parenting and working by day with taking community college classes by night, until he became the first in his family to graduate college, starting work as a respiratory therapist. He moved to Alabama for work, where he met his first boyfriend, John, who introduced him to the local gay scene in Birmingham. Joey also started exploring his two-spirit identity during this time, and soon came out to his family back home to mixed reactions. His ex-wife and mother did not accept his coming out, whereas his grandmother advocated for the family to respect his two-spirit identity. 

As he continued reading about two-spirit history and attending two-spirit community events, he found tremendous self-empowerment in being both queer and Native. He moved west to Denver, Colorado to seek out the large Two-Spirit Society of Denver. With the society, Joey traveled around to schools, churches, and local conferences speaking about two-spirit identity all over Denver. He found the space to embrace his Native heritage and loved dancing powwow, beadmaking, and creating dance clothing. Joey spearheaded several significant milestones in the Denver two-spirit community, including starting an initiative to give eagle feathers to all society members who were graduating school, representing the society in a public interview at the Denver Holiday Parade, and marching with the American Indian Movement Colorado Chapter for peace in the face of death threats for being true to their identity.

Eventually, in 2012, Joey left Denver and returned to live with family. He now lives with his oldest son in Arkansas, is connected with his children and extended family, and remains deeply invested in two-spirit issues. He talks about the importance of focusing future advocacy work around Native LGBTQ+ youth facing homelessness. As he paints out his vibrant life experiences for us during our interview, Joey wraps up his narrative by sharing a beautiful Ponca prayer song. 

Bio Author: Helen Tian