#native lgbt

”The Navajo Nation gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and two-spirit community will host the largest Indigenous Pride in the country in it’s sovereign capital - Window Rock, Arizona - from June 28-29, 2019.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City, all planned events will acknowledge the lifelong work of transgender women of color and honor Indigenous youth activism.

Organizers from Diné Pride have announced a monumental two-day celebration that includes a Diné Transgender Visibility Symposium, Welcome Reception with Queer Showcase, a rainbow lighting of the Navajo Nation Council Chamber, 5K Color Run, a Pride Festival at the Window Rock Veterans Memorial Park with many national headliners, and an After-Party hosted by nationally-renowned Galaxy DJs in Gallup, New Mexico.

Community members selected the theme: Diyingo ‘Adánitsiiskees – I am a sacred being – because all gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and two-spirit Diné relatives are sacred and should find pride in who they are.” 

In order to answer this question I must include some background

Many “two spirit” people, (also known as Winkte in the Lakota), a term that has been used for gay and trans Natives for hundreds of years but was officially adopted in 1990 at an Indigenous lesbian and gay international gathering, unfortunately were mostly never recorded, as in the words of George Catlin, a painter and traveler in the 1700s-1800s, that the Two Spirit tradition among Native Americans “Must be extinguished before it can be more fully recorded.”

This prejudice from the settlers and “missionaries” resulted in most record and oral tellings of this tradition being destroyed or lost, however a few remain. By the early 1900s, Most, if not all tribes had been influenced by European prejudices. That is, until movements began again in the 1990s. 

One infamous person perpetrating this, of course, was Christopher Columbus, as when he, and I quote, “encountered the Two Spirit people, he and his crew threw them into pits with their war dogs and were torn limb from limb. The inhuman treatment Christians offered was only the beginning of the Native American holocaust.” or in other terms, genocide. 

As for historically famous two-spirit couples, I cannot find any that were recorded, or that I know of, however there are a few famous Two-Spirited people, two of which I will list here. (will make a future post listing more.)

First, was We'wha, a Zuni  lhamana, a traditional Zuni gender role, now described as mixed-gender or Two-Spirit. She was dubbed as a “princess” by media in the late 1800s, and mingled with politicians and worked with anthropologists and charity. It was considered a “scandal” when she was “found out” to be a “man” as the media said, and made an uproar within D.C at the time. She was said to be “one of the tallest and, according to Stevenson, strongest members of her tribe.“ A true icon. 

Second, was Osh-Tisch, a Crow badé. Badé being “a male-bodied person in a Crow community who lives in the social role of woman in that culture.” Osch-Tisch lived in the late 1800s as well, fighting in the “1876 Battle of the Rosebud, as recounted by Pretty Shield.”, a famous native medicine woman. As for what they went through, I quote, “The elders also told the story of former B.I.A. agents who tried to repeatedly force him [Osh-Tisch] to wear men’s clothing, but the other Indians protested against this, saying it was against his nature. Joe Medicine Crow told Williams: “One agent in the late 1890’s…tried to interfere with Osh-Tisch, who was the most respected Badé. The agent incarcerated the Badés, cut off their hair, made them wear men’s clothing. He forced them to do manual labor, planting these trees that you see here on the B.I.A. grounds. The people were so upset with this that Chief Pretty Eagle came into Crow agency and told the agent to leave the reservation. It was a tragedy, trying to change them.”

I am aware these are trans historic icons, to put in laymans terms, (as there is more of a spiritual and ritualistic meaning to two-spirits than just LGBT, traditionally) but as for gay historic icons, there are none I can find. 

More modern-day icons, however, there is only one I know of and can find information about, one who a 2009 movie/documentary Two Spirits was centered around. Fred Martinez, a Navajo trans girl, who was murdered at the age of 16 for being so, by a man “who bragged to his friends that he ‘bug-smashed a fag’.  ”  This man was subsequently arrested of course, but still will not erase the tragedy he caused. 

So, in answering your question, no, there are no famous gay native couples I can find or know of, but there is quite a lot of history on the subject of LGBT natives from all tribes, and is definitely worth looking into and researching. If any of you know of any, feel free to let me know, but for now this is the best answer I can give!

Susan Allen is one of the first openly lesbian Native Americans to be elected to the state legislature. She grew up on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where her father was a member, though her family moved around frequently as her father was an evangelical priest. Susan received a BA in Economics from Augsburg College, earned her law degree from the University of New Mexico Law School and an LL.M from William Mitchell College of Law. In 1997, she began working as an attorney, with a focus on tribal and tax law and in 2004 was made partner. As a member of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party, she ran for a vacant seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives. She was elected in 2011 and re-elected the following year. She is Lakota, Dakota, and Anishinabe and currently a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, where her mother was born and raised. Susan was strongly influenced by the American Indian Movement and has been a strong advocate for reducing discrimination and gaps in equality for Native people.

“In a small town in rural, indigenous Mexico, there exists a third gender known as muxe (sometimes spelled muxhe) among the Zapotec peoples. Considered neither male nor female, rather somewhere in-between like the hijras of India, muxes are (broadly speaking) biologically male but dress and act in ways typically associated with females. Here’s a brief history of Mexico’s third gender. 

Believed to have originated from the Spanish term for ‘woman’ (mujer), muxes are predominantly found in communities around the Isthmus of Oaxaca, where tolerance towards people identifying with this third gender is generally higher than in many other parts of Mexico. Sadly, however, contrary to popular belief, discrimination is still alive and kicking. In other regions, muxes are sometimes known by other names, like biza’ah.”

Read the full piece here

Jack C. Jackson Jr., born and raised on the Navajo Nation in Arizona, is an Arizona state senator and a senior strategist in the Blue Stone Strategy Group, a national Native-owned consulting firm “committed to assisting Native American tribes with strengthening sovereignty and fostering self-determination and self-sufficiency by developing profitable tribal businesses, productive governmental systems, and effective leadership." 

Jackson’s political career began in D.C. in the early ‘90s, when he represented the Navajo Nation in Washington. He was elected to the Arizona state House in 2003, working alongside his father, Sen. Jack C. Jackson Sr. (they were the first father and son to serve together in Arizona history). In 2010 Jackson became an Arizona state senator, and he was elected to another term this month. 

Ever the activist, Jackson was appointed by both President Clinton and President Obama to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, and he’s served on the board of the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center.

As she woke, she could smell sweets in the air, yet an empty space in her bed. She got up, scooting into the kitchen to kiss her love on the lips. Her love laughs so sweetly, like a wedding dove or a lone bluebird, but the woman sits at the table because her lover’s lips told her to. The domestic warmth in the air almost lures her back into a deep sleep, dreaming of days when they can have picnics and parties, where she can kiss her lover on the lips day in and day out until they turn blue. She can feel herself slipping, eyelashes softly fluttering but a warm hand on her shoulder snaps out of it. The lighting in the room is a wonderful orange, with light yellow light peering in through the windows. Turning to her lover, she feels her heart rush in pace at her smile and her beckoning hand towards the plate in front of her.

Breakfast goes relaxingly slow, with each pausing to stare at one another, eyes narrowed teasingly, and lips curled into a smile. Bath time comes and they slowly rub each other’s skin, kneading it carefully until it turns a flustered pink. They spend their free time curled into one another, almost becoming one person on their red wine stained loveseat. They stay as long as they can, lips speaking for the words dying on their tongue.