MARCUS ARANA/HOLY OLD MAN BULL/UNCLE (Community Producer/Talent) (Blackfeet/ Irish/ Amah Mutsun Ohlone/ Mexica/ Scottish) was born in Alaska and raised in Fresno CA. In his early years, Marcus became immersed in music, visual art, and live theater. A former farm worker, laborer, cook, radio announcer and programmer, Marcus graduated from Humboldt State University magna cum laude in 1992 with a BA degree in history. He returned to the SF Bay Area in 1993, to work at an LGBT anti-violence agency as a speakers bureau coordinator. In 2000, he joined the staff of the SF Human Rights Commission, spending his final working decade enforcing gender identity nondiscrimination laws, creating public policy, and implementing gender affirming care for City employees, retirees, and their dependents which became a national model for ending restrictions in the insurance industry. He authored two reports: A Human Rights Investigation of the Medical “Normalization” of Intersex People, and Discrimination by Omission: Issues of Concern for Native Americans in San Francisco. Marcus retired disabled in 2012. 

Uncle is a former board member for the Native American AIDS Project and the Montana Two Spirit Society. He has worked as an advisor and consultant for the De Young Museum, KQED-FM, Costanoan Indian Research, the Transgender Law Project (which became the Transgender Law Center), The National Center for Transgender Equality, and the National LGBT Task Force.

No stranger to media, Marcus has been featured in The OutWords Archive, Diagnosing Difference, and Don’t Erase My History. His story is shared in the Book of Pride: LGBT Heroes Who Changed the World. He has been interviewed in numerous podcasts and written articles. Marcus spends his elder years speaking at LGBTQIA events, and Two Spirit gatherings. He lives in Sonoma County with his beloved wife Nancy, and their equally lovable Lab, Frankie.