Gay Native Americans Reclaim Two-Spirit Culture

Published November 24, 2009 @ 09:34AM PT

The Navajo used the word “nádleehí” to describe people who embodied both masculine and feminine traits. They were among the hundreds of Native communities that celebrated and revered tribe members who lived outside binary male/female restrictions. As today’s Native communities fight to revitalize the culture that was beaten out of them, gay and transgender Natives are reclaiming this aspect of their ancestry by identifying as two-spirit –- a unifying term that serves as a catch-all for the many variations of sexuality and gender identity.

Two-spirit people were seen as a gift in Native American culture, viewed as a third gender with a heightened spiritual connectedness and a significant role to play. However, the forced Western colonization injected tribal communities with strong anti-gay attitudes that, for the most part, continue to reign supreme today. As two-spirits try to reclaim their historical culture, it is vital for the LGBT community to start paying attention to history as well.

I had the honor of speaking with seasoned two-spirit activist Richard LaFortune, whose wisdom made it painfully clear how shortsighted the LGBT civil rights movement has become. While much of the current focus is on the state-by-state status of legal relationship recognition, LaFortune reveals that many Native cultures enjoyed marriage equality for same-sex couples well before European settlers arrived. It isn’t surprising that anti-gay activists didn’t bother to consult Native American history before constantly regurgitating “marriage has always been between one man and one woman” talking points.

A rich history of equality does not equal an immediate connection to today’s gay movement for equality. LaFortune says most mainstream gay agenda items are illegible to him. Much of his organizing and activism is built on community building issues like environmental justice, women’s rights, elderly rights, and culture revitalization. “I’m not interested in marriage equality, I’m more concerned if we are going to have air to breathe in 20 years,” LaFortune asserts.

LaFortune is featured in a new documentary entitled “Two Spirits,” which premiered last weekend at the Starz Denver Film Festival. The film details the horrific 2001 murder of two-spirit Colorado teen Fred Martinez. Never heard of him? You’re not alone. While other hate crimes have garnered massive amounts of national media attention, the story of this transgender Native from rural Colorado has received little play from either mainstream media or the gay press.

This moving film focuses attention on a two-spirit community plagued by invisibility. LaFortune details the importance of this exposure, “[W]ithout visibility there is no attention, without attention there is no sympathy, and without sympathy there is no action.”

Please do your part to make sure that this film is seen and this culture celebrated. View the emotional trailer below and then join the movie's Facebook page to demand that it come to your city.

(Photo Courtesy of TwoSpirits.org)

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Comments (18)

Hope ya'll dont mind if I share this on my ministry blog.

I also shared it on my facebook page.

Posted by Reverend Boony on 11/24/2009 @ 12:10PM PT
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It's good that the Navajos are reclaiming the spirit of "nadleehi" to demonstrate a person who is masculine and feminine. It's unfortunate that Fred Martinez was murdered but all people in the United States must know that violence against LGBT people on the basis of sexual orientation is wrong. It's awesome that Native Americans recognized marriage equality much before colonization of the United States and that Native Americans like Richard LaFortunate is making it more visible.

Posted by Edwin Bonilla on 11/24/2009 @ 03:38PM PT
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I am a little bit worried about lumping all Native Americans into one culture. Does *all* "Native American culture" include two-spirit? Other than that, good article and good point about anti-gay people arguing for some monolithic concept of marriage which cultures here in our own country can historically testify against.

Posted by Luella - on 11/24/2009 @ 07:09PM PT
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Miss luella...

I dont know if every tribe had their own version of the 2 spirited but I do know the cherokee tribe did...

Not only were there different kinds of marriage within native american tribes but also in the old days of israel you had several different kinds as is illustrated by the bible.

Posted by Reverend Boony on 11/24/2009 @ 10:48PM PT
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That's always been my issue with the two-spirit debate. Not all Native American tribes are the same, acting as if they are minimises their individual identities. Plus, most people I've met who take on two-spirit as an identifier were raised as white children in a predominately white society. Few have any other ties to their Native American heritage. It's the old "one of my ancestors was a Cherokee princess" line in a new package.

Posted by Tobias Fangor on 11/25/2009 @ 06:51AM PT
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I know my tribe (Comanche) has the idea of the "contrary"...sometimes (but not always) a contrary can refer to an individual that demonstrates traits of the opposite sex. Some tribes and some of the different bands within a tribe did hold contraries in high regard. From what I can tell, at least in speaking to my family, more often than not, a gay man wasn't really a big deal in the community. I don't know about gay women in our tribe.

As to Tobias' comment above, he's right. There is a tendency to exaggerate some of the significance of the traditions by those of us raised in the white man's world and I have seen a lot of white people trying to attach some sort of spiritual significance to everything native american, which is often a source of great amusement to us.

As a person of mixed heritage (Nez Perce, Comanche and English) I have long been frustrated by the tendency to lump in all of us under the term "Native American". The Navajo (referrenced in this article) tribe and mine have very little in common with mine, although I am proud to count quite a few friends from that tribe as well as the Zia, Zuni, Jemez, Santo Domingo, Santan Ana, White Mountain Apache, Tarumarah (Mexico) etc...Everyone is unique and different and a number of them are traditional enemies.

I guess though, getting off into this debate is probably a little off message on this board, but I can't help but throw my two cents in on this one.

Posted by William Brown on 11/25/2009 @ 04:59PM PT
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Even though I grew up in white society and look nothing like a native american, Ive always felt as if I was at least 1/3rd cherokee...Of course the other 2/3rds is irish.

I mean no disrespect to any of my ancestors...I just want to honor my heritage as best I can with harm to none.

Posted by Reverend Boony on 11/26/2009 @ 02:10AM PT
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In my limited studies of the native american two spirit tradition, it seems that the two spirit people were generally accepted in the Great Lakes region, the early French explorer had a word for them, berdache. (I may have spelled that wrong.) In order for the French explorers to have used the term, the two spirit people must have been visible, and, in order to be visible, they must have been accepted in the local culture.

Posted by Amber Beckerson on 11/25/2009 @ 11:23AM PT
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It's important that many tribes celebrated their two-spirited individuals; however, once the white man either a) murdered them or b) took them to war and prosletyzed them into believing the Xtian way, that was when they stopped believing in the "two-spirited" and considered their LGBT members to be evil.

Posted by Dave Hershey on 11/25/2009 @ 02:24PM PT
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I can add some support to that comment. In talking to a number of my Navajo friends and acquaintances, it seems that a lot of Navajos that do express anti LGBT feelings seem to have had that introduced by the boarding schools over the last century.

Posted by William Brown on 11/25/2009 @ 05:03PM PT
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And thats a sad commentary on america's true first citizens...

Personaly I'd love to see all native american tribes shake off the fundemental christian crap and reclaim their heritages.

Posted by Reverend Boony on 11/27/2009 @ 06:04PM PT
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This is so interesting, and I can't wait to see the film! I say interesting because I don't recall ever learning about a group of people in history treating LGBT people in a positive way. Of course this was left out of the textbooks in school. Anyone have any good web sources for more information?

Posted by J C on 11/26/2009 @ 10:36PM PT
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Not on this but if you go to
http://www.soulforce.org/

Or
http://www.st-lukes-peoria.org/

Then they might be able to help you.

Posted by Reverend Boony on 11/27/2009 @ 06:07PM PT
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I think this link is worth reading.

http://www.gay-art-history.org/gay-history/gay-customs/native-american-homosexuality/two-spirit-native-american-gay.html

Posted by Amber Beckerson on 11/27/2009 @ 09:46PM PT
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Thanks miss beckerson.

Posted by Reverend Boony on 11/28/2009 @ 01:46PM PT
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Thanks!

Posted by J C on 11/29/2009 @ 10:22PM PT
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All my life I have had a pull towards Native Americans and thier culture.The spiritual practices and beliefs have always felt right to and for me. The Two Spirit history draws me even closer. This limited knowledge inspires me in a most spiritual way.

KSQ-sc

Posted by Kasey Queen on 12/11/2009 @ 05:47PM PT
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Thank you all so much for all the postings. You are helping others in ways you may never know as we read them.

Alishia

Posted by Alishia Ouellette on 01/24/2010 @ 03:01AM PT
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Adam studies the impact of entertainment on society at the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center. Previously, he worked at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), he served as Director of Alumni for Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY) and he dedicated two years of AmeriCorps service with the American Red Cross. Adam lives with his husband in Southern California.