Indigenous 2S/LGBTQQIA+ Identities
Researched and written by Chelsea Bannatyne, 2024
Prior to colonization gender diversity was recognized and accepted in many Indigenous[i] nations across Turtle Island. Indigenous Two-Spirit or historically, third and fourth gender[ii] identities are multifaceted and have different meanings depending on who you ask or in which context it is being used. The term Two-Spirit came to Cree Elder Myra Laramee in a vision after which, she presented it at the Third Annual International LGBT Native American Gathering in 1990, held in Beausejour, Manitoba.[iii] Since then, “it has been taken up by many Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ people to describe an aspect of their identity.”[iv] The term Two-Spirit is said to originate from a translation of the “ Anishinaabemowin phrase niizh manidoowag, meaning ‘two spirits’ and has become a pan-Indigenous term used throughout English-speaking communities.”[v] Two-Spirit, in short, can refer to “gender identity (male, female, third gender), sexual identity (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer) and spiritual identity (having both a male and female spirit).”[vi]
In a pre-colonial context, within Indigenous ways of being, Two-Spirit relatives “were either born with Two-Spirits while others readily adopted the gender role after a vision.”[vii] Many Indigenous communities are working to decolonize understandings of gender/sexuality and reclaim the teachings in which Two-Spirit people are valued members in their communities and fulfil a variety of roles. These teachings say that Two-Spirit identity “did not revolve around sexual activity, but rather, they were extraordinary people gifted with spiritual powers who were widely accepted within their societies as visionaries, healers, and medicine people.”[viii] They also say that Two-Spirit people “were put here to create balance by furthering the knowledge of both sides.”[ix]
Upon European contact those “considered to hold special gifts were dismissed and reduced by observers – mostly explorers and anthropologists – as ‘Berdaches’.”[x] The term “Berdache was widely used as a catch-all phrase for homosexuality, hermaphrodism, transvestitism and transgenderism – It has also been translated as ‘kept boy’ or ‘male prostitute.”[xi] In this colonial era, those individuals branded with this term were stigmatized and unfairly persecuted, including at Residential Schools in Canada. This term is now considered offensive.
Today many Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ people prefer to use Two-Spirit, or similarly Indigiqueer. The term Indigequeer or ‘Indigiqueer’ was first coined in 2004 by Plains Cree film maker, artist, and writer TJ Cuthand. According to Cuthand, the term Indigequeer was used to title the Vancouver Queer Film Festival’s Indigenous/Two-Spirit program that he headed. Cuthand stated the reasoning for inventing this term was that he shared the growing sentiment “that some LGBTQ Indigenous people don’t feel as comfortable with the Two-Spirit title because it implies some dual gender stuff.”[xii] This identity was popularized in the works of author Joshua Whitehead, first with full-metal indigiqueer (2017) and then Johnny Appleseed (2018). The terms Indigequeer and Two-Spirit are significant in that these are identities described for and by Indigenous gender-diverse individuals as an act to reclaim and simultaneously decolonize Indigenous gender and sexual identities. Additionally, these terms “strengthen Indigenous communities, protect youth, and care for “all my relations”.”[xiii]
Within various nations, Two-Spirit identity “took on diverse forms and had its own term or definition in their languages.”[xiv] Research has shown that approximately “two-thirds of 200 Indigenous languages recorded in Turtle Island and Inuit Nunangat have terms for people who are neither men or women.”[xv] Indigenous worldviews that tell of multiple genders and sexualities were severely disrupted by colonization and the imposition of Judeo-Christian culture and heteropatriarchal rule. The “cumulative effects of assimilation, of disenfranchisement through the Indian Act for First Nations, and of removal from the land for all Indigenous Peoples in Canada have contributed to the loss of culture, language and family.”[xvi] Exploring Indigenous worldviews, languages and customs may offer us a more intimate glimpse into the distinctive Indigenous teachings on multiple genders and sexualities. Oral traditions have been a vital means of passing Indigenous culture and knowledge to future generations, including singing, storytelling, and ceremony. The “loss of culture and language is particularly important in the case of words for Two-Spirit people.”[xvii]