As the second largest federally recognized Indigenous nation in the United States, the Navajo Nation also contains the most expansive reservation, spanning Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado. From this community, which banned same-sex marriage in 2005, emerged Moroni Benally (Naashaashi clan), a Mormon and gay Navajo man who ran for Navajo Nation President in 2014.

In Moroni for President, a new documentary, directors Saila Huusko and Jasper Rischen, follow Benally's campaign, offering insight into a historic moment of sexuality and politics in the Navajo Nation. NewNowNext sat down with Huusko, Rischen, and Benally to chat about the film, which airs on November 20 on WORLD Channel.

Jasper and Saila, given that neither of you are Native and you didn't grow up in the U.S., how did you come to this story?

Jasper Rischen: Saila and I met in grad school and this was our master's project. I worked as an intern for a Dutch news station and covered topics across the U.S. I had produced a segment about the 2010 Navajo Nation election. Four years later, Saila and I were talking and realized the [presidential] election was happening again and was barely attracting attention from the American media. The story kept unfolding and became more than a master's project when we met Moroni.

Saila Huusko: You don't know what's going to happen with any documentary. We never intended for this to be anything other than a student film project. It was really finding and meeting and talking to Moroni that got us interested and involved in possibly making the film.

JR: In 2014, he was the only candidate that had announced [a campaign]. We reached out to him for an interview. He was very hesitant about us, rightfully so. Who are these non-Native students coming in to ask me about my life?

What went into your decision to participate, Moroni?

Moroni Benally: I got this email from Jasper and Saila that they wanted to do a documentary about the Navajo presidential election. I was pretty skeptical because I had had my fair share of interactions with non-Native filmmakers, non-Native researchers. I was fully aware of how non-Native filmmakers kind of engage with Native communities: Are they just going to take and not give back? Is their story going to emphasize these stereotypical tropes about Native America? I wanted to get a sense of their larger research agenda. I wanted to know what sort of Indigenous scholarship they had read in preparation for this, who they had talked to. I would participate based on a certain set of agreements, so for about a month-and-a-half I grilled them on this. They told me, at one point, they were a little intimidated.

In the film, there’s a scene where you speak about the fire that destroyed your parents’ house. It was framed as one of your reasons for running for president. What else compelled you to run for tribal government?

MB: I’ve always been interested in Navajo politics since I was really young. I remember being 7, 8, 9 years old listening to a Navajo radio station about the people running. At the time I was like, These are the people who kind of helped us get electricity. I grew up in a home that didn’t have electricity or running water.

Then what happened?

I was really active in my local government and ended up getting elected to local chapter leadership in the Navajo Nation government as secretary-treasurer. I got appointed to the Navajo tax commission and was part of the education committee on my local area. I started reading these radical Native thinkers and that’s when I begin to grasp that the federal government held onto the Navajo reservation and all tribal nations, and how they leached into the internal affairs and controlled the oversight authority of appropriation funds to reservations. I just wanted to challenge that. I didn’t plan on running, as young as I was. I had just turned 35, and but that was it.

One of the topics not discussed in this film were Two-Spirits or Naadlehis (male with a female spirit). Why is that?

SH: There were hundreds of hours of footage we had to cut to make a 53-minute broadcast version, which doesn't allow for the exploration of all those things that you mentioned. We actually had multiple versions of this film and some of the other versions did get into talking about Naadleh. The unfortunate thing is that we had 53 minutes to tell the story of the election and we thought it might be hasty to have only a one-minute explanation.

In the film, Moroni, you say that you don’t want the fact that you’re gay to be a part of the race. Why?

MB: I didn’t want it to [overshadow] any sort of policy conversation I wanted to initiate. I know my Navajo community and I know people who came out as gay and that’s the first thing that everyone says, “I know, he’s gay.” They’re not taken seriously or respected. We debated this for months and we decided that we’d rather focus on the message [rather] than saying I’m gay.

Do you see a connection between embracing LGBTQIA2S people within tribal community and the process of decolonization?

MB: Absolutely. At least within Navajo, within a Diné context. There weren’t these very strict binary sexualities that were kind of imposed on, and so I absolutely believe that embracing that is decolonization.

Jasper, as someone who is on the queer spectrum, what was it like to film this story?

JR: I’m obviously lucky to come from Holland—it’s the first country that legalized gay marriage—and my parents were supportive. I really hope that this film starts discussions that will make it easier for queer people to be accepted. We already did a screening during Navajo Pride and apparently then it started some really important, eye-opening conversations for people that were in attendance. That’s all we can hope for, to provide some sort of platform for discussion.

In the film there was a moment at your rally that Mormon missionaries showed up. What brought them to your rally?

MB: They came because my parents are still very active Mormons, and so in the Mormon tradition, Mormon missionaries are there to kind of give a helping hand. Maybe, in my parent’s mind, they had invited these kind of extra hands to help set up and take down and clean up. Obviously, I was surprised.

You seemed surprised. Are you still Mormon?

MB: I consider myself a cultural Mormon. It’s kind of hard for me to turn my back on this thing that was such a part of me for so long.

What’s the reaction been like from queer Native viewers?

MB: Based on the feedback that I’ve been given, at least at the film festival [Big Sky], a lot of the Native queer individuals who came up to me were really touched by the story and sort of the messiness of it all. I know when we had premiered the film at Diné Pride, half the audience were queer and they were wiping tears from their eyes. It just touched them. There’s part of their story in it.

Moroni for President will air on November 20 on WORLD Channel as part of the new season of America ReFramed.