Two Spirit
“Two Spirit” is an umbrella term for tribally specific gender identities that don’t conform to the male/female binary introduced by European settlers. Before colonization, identities embodying both masculine and feminine qualities were honored by tribes throughout what is now the United States and Canada, as well as many tribes in Latin America. The number of additional genders and the social and ceremonial roles assigned to them varied from tribe to tribe, but across the Americas, the visibility of gender variance declined dramatically as a result of colonization and forced assimilation.
Although gender variance in tribal communities has ancient roots, the term “Two Spirit” (also styled “Two-Spirit,” “TwoSpirit,” and “2S”) was coined at a 1990 intertribal conference in Winnipeg as a collective name for these additional gender identities. In recent decades, activists have established Two Spirit societies in the U.S. and Canada, mostly in urban areas; they serve as intertribal safe spaces for Two Spirits who often feel alienated from both their own tribal communities and the wider LGBTQ+ community. Bay Area American Indian Two Spirits is probably the best known, and its annual powwow in San Francisco draws over 3,000 attendees.
Statistically, Two Spirits are one of the most vulnerable populations in North America: compared with either cisgender-heterosexual Natives or other LGBTQ+ people from communities of color, Two Spirits experience higher rates of unemployment, food insecurity, homelessness, depression, suicide, and hate crimes. According to the National Congress of American Indians, “schools are venues for violence against youth,” with 54% of LGTBQ+ Native students experiencing physical violence because of their identity. In many tribal communities, Two Spirits can’t take part in dances or ceremony unless they wear the regalia of the gender they were assigned at birth. Yet the pendulum is swinging back toward acceptance. With the increasing support of cisgender-heterosexual relatives across Turtle Island, Two Spirits are once again taking up their traditional roles as healers, caretakers, artists, and culture bearers.
Sources:
ihs.gov/lgbt/health/twospirit/
ictnews.org/archive/8-misconceptions-things-know-two-spirit-people
williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/aian-lgbt-adults-us/
ncai.org/policy-research-center/research-data/prc-publications/A_Spotlight_on_Native_LGBT.pdf