the ware

Two Spirit is an umbrella term coined relatively recently, encompassing unique gender identities and sexualities within the diverse cultures of the thousands of tribal nations across the so-called USA and Canada. Two Spirit exists beyond colonial concepts of what gender is. Not every queer native is Two Spirit, and not every Two Spirit native is queer. Deconstructing gender starts with understanding that western concepts of what is male and female are colonial and bigoted. For indigenous peoples across turtle island, those we consider trans/queer today were honored community members. There are no closets in tipis. Happy pride to all of my fellow 2spirited natives who have had to fight to justify who they are to colonized minds who seek to place us into their own gender/sexuality boxes. ((No, Two-Spirit is not comparable to being nonbinary or bigender or anything else. Those labels exist with ideas of colonial gender norms in mind.))