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Native American Heritage Month: Pride and Perseverance

As communities across the United States gather to recognize and honor Native American Heritage Month, we make space to center the lives and stories of LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit Native American people.

Before European colonization, there were often examples and representations of various sexual and gender identities and expressions among the indigenous people in the United States, and throughout the Americas. Now often referred to as Two-Spirit, this was an identity of an individual who was noted as having a blending or sharing of gender, or as a third and fourth gender.

“Native nations are similar to other world populations in the demographic representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. Many tribal languages include specific vocabulary to refer to gender identities beyond male and female; others do not, or those terms have been lost. Similarly, there are many differences in how Indigenous communities and tribes saw or responded to gender variance. In some tribes and First Nations, stories are passed down of individuals who had special standing because they were LGBTQ. Their status among their people came from their dreams, visions, and accomplishments that revealed them as healers and societal or ceremonial leaders. In other tribes, LGBTQ people had no special status and were ridiculed. And in still other tribes, they were accepted and lived as equals in day-to-day life.” SMITHSONIAN VOICES  NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN: Pride 2020

It is up to each of us to educate ourselves and open the doors for LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit Native American people to be able show their pride and embrace their true and authentic selves. This means learning about and honoring their history, people, and events related to their intersectional identity as both LGBTQ+ and Native.

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