Environmental advocate Winona LaDuke has stepped down as the leader of the non-profit Indigenous organization Honor the Earth. The move comes less than a week after the group lost a civil court case against a former employee who said she was sexually harassed by another employee.

LaDuke founded Honor the Earth in 1993 with members of the band Indigo Girls. A press release from Honor the Earth states LaDuke submitted her letter of resignation to the group’s Board of Directors on April 3rd. The board accepted the letter and acknowledged a transition plan was already underway. This resignation now accelerated the process.

Executive co-director Krystal Two Bulls began transition work last fall and joined the organization in January of 2023. Two Bulls will now step into the role as Honor the Earth’s sole leader.

Last week, a Becker County jury found that former Honor the Earth employee Margaret Campbell was a target of sexual harassment while working for the organization. The jury awarded Campbell $750,000 in emotional distress and lost wages. Campbell said in her case against the group that LaDuke dismissed her concerns of sexual harassment from then-co-worker Michael Dahl and that LaDuke and the board did not take any action.

In a statement from Two Bulls regarding LaDuke’s resignation, she states, “We have learned real lessons and want nothing more than this to be an example to other organizations about the deep work our communities, organizations, collectives, and movement spaces still have to do around sexual harassment.”

By — Mary Balstad