Though the term has only been in use since the nineties, the concept of the Two Spirit has been an aspect of many Indigenous cultures for millennia. And today being Indigenous Peoples Day, we wanted to explore the concept.
“Two Spirit" is an umbrella term that bridges Indigenous and Western understandings of gender and sexuality. Currently, you may find it in media as the ‘2’ included at the end of LGBTQ 2. It’s important to realize that there are actually many nation-specific definitions and understandings of Two Spirit. As always, we must avoid lumping Indigenous cultures and identities into one cliche or stereotype assembled by Western media culture.
With that in mind, the term was intentionally introduced by various native people as a means of finding common ground and helping educate about traditional teachings in a contemporary context. The Two-Spirit Society of Denver offers the following definition:
“Two Spirit refers to another gender role believed to be common among most, if not all, first peoples of Turtle Island, North America, one that had a proper and accepted place within native societies. This acceptance was rooted in the spiritual teachings that say all life is sacred.”
The term was first proposed and affirmed by consensus in 1990 at the 3rd Annual Native American Gay and Lesbian Gathering held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. And it had a very specific aim. Native scholars and activists had wrestled for years with how to address the many sexual- and gender-expansive identities found across Indigenous nations. “Two Spirit” is basically shorthand that can support discourse across native and non-native cultures alike.
For example, the Lakota have a word winyanktehca which means "wants to be like a woman." Nowadays shortened to just winkte it refers to “two-souled” Lakota people who dwell outside the common boundaries of binary gender (male/female).
In Dine (Navajo) language, Nádleehi means “those who transform” and can refer to one of four separate genders; masculine-feminine, masculine-masculine, feminine-masculine, and feminine-feminine. Each gender has its own word in the Dine language as well. Similar concepts can be found all across Turtle Island. Each nation's understanding of gender and sexual diversity is different and grounded in their unique spiritual beliefs.
Not all nations have a two spirit concept. However, among those that do, Two Spirit people were historically held in high regard and often considered holy. Many performed roles traditionally assigned to both men and women.They could also take on important societal roles such as matchmakers, medicine people, or warriors.Their “two-spiritedness” was seen as a divine gift that could benefit the community.
Among the most famous was Witwa, a famous Two Spirit of the Zuni. Witwa took part in both masculine and feminine tribal matters. A respected leader, they were even sent as an official Zuni delegate to Washington, DC.
Why is the term Two Spirit important now? The assessment of the 1990 conference was that the term was needed because most of the written records on North American Indigenous nations only begins with European contact.
For example, in the 17th Century Jesuit missionaries encountered people among the Anishinaabe tribes of what is now Canada who embodied both male and female genders and recorded them as berdache - French for “kept boy”.
As you’d expect, those records were ethnocentric, inaccurate and negative. Berdache and terms like it are both offensive and deeply colonial in origins and perspective. They are widely considered pejorative by natives and should not be used.
Two Spirit is thus a reclamation. It rejects the imposed homophobia, rigid binary gender roles and misogyny which were imposed on Indigenous peoples.
Forced indoctrination into Christian traditions and mindsets (through residential schools among other things) actually resulted in some nations forbidding and punishing Two Spirit self expression and unions. As recently as 2004, Kathy Reynolds and Don McKinley, two Cherokee women in Tulsa, Oklahoma, attempted to marry under tribal law but ended up embroiled in a convoluted legal battle which has had serious political and social implications.
Thrust into the spotlight against their wishes, the couple became public symbols of the battle for Two spirit rights. Although they were granted the right to marry, the decision to issue them a marriage license was later challenged leading to a new tribal law declaring that marriage could only be between a man and a woman. That law was overturned in 2016 in part thanks to the wider cultural shift taking place across North America.
Now many native people are returning to their Two Spirit traditions as a way to heal from the injustices of colonialism. In 2011, the first known U.S. Two Spirit powwow was organized by the Bay Area American Indian Two Spirits. Since then, similar powwows honoring Two Spirits have taken off in Montana and Kansas. March 2017 saw another wonderful milestone when the Gathering of Nations, the largest powwow in the U.S., honored Two Spirit people during its Grand Entry ceremony.
Like other aspects of Indigenous cultures, Two Spirit in its many forms has endured despite centuries of colonial violence and prejudice. The past 30 years have seen many elders come out of the closet and many youths embrace who they know themselves to be; and find a rich cultural framework that supports and celebrates them.
An important note: Though Two Spirit is many things, one thing it is not is a term non-Native LGBTQ+ people should use to express themselves. No matter how “natural,” “spiritual.” or “poetic” it may sound, it is only for Indigenous people and should never be appropriated. Rather, it falls on us non-Natives to be good allies of all Two Spirit people. To be, as Ojibwe content creator Eagle Blackbird puts it, “deadly relatives” and stand up for the basic human rights of all.
Written by Raven Stone, a member of the Equality Alliance communications committee