#Two-Spirit

[crystalsandbubbletea]

Their name was Nex Benedict.

Nex Benedict, not whatever name the news keeps saying.

Nex used He/Him pronouns according to friends, not whatever the news keeps saying.

Nex was the victim of a hate crime. Nex's death was because of a hate crime. Nex's death was not an accident, it was a hate crime.

[queerasfact]

Celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day!

Today the USA marks Indigenous Peoples' Day - to celebrate, have a listen to these podcasts to learn some of the Indigenous, queer history of what is now the USA.

Osh-Tisch

Osh-Tisch was a batée born in the mid-19th-century Crow Nation. Batée is a uniquely Crow gender identity, describing a person assigned male at birth, who performs female as well as specifically batée social roles. Osh-Tisch was renowned for their skills as a craftsperson, their bravery in the 1876 Battle of the Rosebud, and as the best poker player in the region. In the face of attempts by the US government to force assimilation to Western ideas of gender, Osh-Tisch’s community fought for their right to express their identity.

[Image source: Will Roscoe’s Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America]

We'wha

Born c.1849 at Zuni (now in New Mexico), We’wha was a lhamana - a Zuni gender including both masculine and feminine roles. Like many lhamana, We'wha was a highly skilled craftsperson, proficient in both traditionally masculine, and traditionally feminie crafts. In 1885, We’wha travelled to Washington DC as a representative of the Zuni people, where they worked with anthropologists and the Smithsonian museum to demonstrate and share information about Zuni crafts and culture, and met US President Grover Cleveland.

[Image source]

Bíawacheeitchish

Born in the early 1800s, Bíawacheeitchish (Woman Chief) was a Gros Ventre woman who lived amongst the Crow people. She was skilled in traditionally masculine pursuits like riding, hunting and warfare. Polygamy was common amongst the Crow, and Bíawacheeitchish married four women. Her military prowess led to her becoming one of the most respected Crow chiefs.

[Image source]

Kapaemahu

According to Hawai'ian oral histories, in around the 1500s, four healers visited Honolulu from what are now the Society Islands. These healers - named Kapaemahu, Kahalao, Kapuni, and Kinohi, were māhū, a gender recognised in Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawai’ian) culture, with a particular focus on healing and caring roles.

When they departed Hawai'i, the four māhū left behind four huge stones as a memento of their visit, imbued with their healing powers, which are still revered in Hawai'i today.

[Image source]

[spaceysoupy]

So apparently it’s that time of year again where I have to post about this.

On lesbianism, white queerness, and 2S identity

Text below readmore

I am a two-spirit. My identity is specific to my Tribe and Clan, and even more specific to my family. I am not a man, I am not a woman, and I am not nonbinary; I am not defined by what I am not.

I am a two-spirit and I am a lesbian. That's not debatable.

But I am not a non-man.

There's an idea of two-spirits that we are just the ethnic version of non-binary

We're not. The reason you're so comfortable calling us nonbinary is because your idea of queerness is centered around the binary&what you are not: you're not cishet, you're not the oppressor, etc

White queers like to speak about 2S identities constantly as if we are monolith. "It's just a gender" "it's not a gender"

"they're not trans" "they're not queer" "they don't belong here"

The community tries to decide for the individual and that's so weird to me.

So much of white queerness is inherently about exclusion.

You need strict labels to exclude the people you fear. You write your definitions around your fear of intruders and by consequence you exclude the people that need your support the most.

You need people to "prove" they are queer before you let them in. You're like a fortress and you let vulnerable people drown in the moat; ignoring that the real oppressors don't need to be a Trojan horse to do damage, ignoring they are actively burning down the castle.

It's very sad to me, because it's ultimately tearing the community apart even further.

I've never felt very welcome in white lesbian circles and they've never understood my experience of gender, but it's gotten worse in the past 5 or so years.

As TERFs start to revive gold star lesbianism and center hatred of men as their definition of lesbianism, you start to get these younger lesbians that don't know history that start to parrot the rhetoric. First it's "non-men loving non-men" then it's "you're too close to Man™"

For many two-spirit lesbians like myself, this is very concerning. White lesbians are historically not the ones targeted by radfems.

Now we've gotten to the point that there are people denying that lesbian is an spec (multispec) identity while including (white) nonbinary people

White nonbinary people (usually AFAB nonbinary people) are seen as woman lite and are welcome in white lesbian spaces while queer Indigenous people are considered dangerous because white lesbians can't understand their gender.

When did understanding become a requirement?

We're getting very dangerously close to "lesbianism is ONLY attraction to women" and very close to "lesbianism is only attraction to *a very specific type of (white) woman*" and I really need young white lesbians to read about political lesbianism so they can see this

I don't want to hear "not all lesbians" or "well then they aren't welcome" because every time this rhetoric goes unchallenged you are actively welcoming these people to continue it and make it more and more extreme. Yes, even the kind that seems to have nothing to do with racism

Almost all of your exclusionary rhetoric is based on the racist ideas of political lesbianism and I do not know why you all cannot see that they want to move goalposts. It wasn't just bi lesbians, it wasn't just he/him lesbians, it wasn't just nonbinary lesbians. It's a tactic.

It really feels like young lesbians are not only letting us go backwards, but encouraging it. And that's thanks in part to the historical racism of political lesbianism, but many of these people ARE old enough to think critically and talk to people who've been through this.

So far I've seen this in younger lesbian spaces; the ones with older generations (the ones that don't welcome TERFs) have been pretty welcoming even if not totally understanding, because they at least recognize that you don't need to understand someone's experience to validate it.

But I'm really concerned for the young Indigenous lesbians who don't feel comfortable around older people and are going to these younger lesbian spaces only to be indoctrinated with thinly veiled TERF rhetoric. It makes me very concerned for our spaces as well.

So I'll say again

I am not a non-man and I am not a non-woman. I'm not defined by what I am not. I do not ascribe to your binary-centric definitions of queerness. I experience queer attraction to women. I'm a lesbian. You do not get to use community to decide my individuality.

Thread by ~Alitsanosga

Pronouns: hi'a/vsgina/utseli/uwasa

[tigwalen]

For any of you that keep putting anything related to "Asegi Stories: Cherokee Queer and Two-Spirit Memory" a book by "Qwo-Li" AKA Paul Edwards Driskill in the Cherokee tags - this is your proof and further reminder that this person is not part of our tribe, they are not a trusted source, and here is further proof of reports of their racism against actual POC.

This person is not Cherokee and anyone that is involved with LGBT/queer Cherokee information needs to stop sourcing this person - they aren't even using the right words and Asegi is not a word I would use - it doesn't make sense.

[restinpansy]

. . . two-spirit flag !

[ PT: two-spirit flag! /End PT ]

wanted to make my own 2S flag; tried to keep the colors all connected to nature. this is a deeply cultural identity for indigenous people only. non-natives are, of course, still free to reblog this flag, though. the image descriptions below and in the alt text were provided by @/julietianboy.

[ PT: wanted to make my own 2S flag; tried to keep the colors all connected to nature. this is a deeply cultural identity for indigenous people only. non-natives are, of course, still free to reblog this flag, though. the image descriptions below and in the alt text were provided by @/julietianboy. /End PT ]

[ ID: Three identical images of a flag with nine horizontal stripes, the third, fifth and seventh stripes being thicker and the fourth and sixth stripes being thinner, in the following colors: light green, turquoise, navy blue, very dark blue, white, very dark blue, navy blue, turquoise and light green. Over the fifth stripe is a very dark blue line with several large circles. Over that, in the center of the flag, is a symbol of two feathers on a type of pin. /End ID ]

[celluloidrainbow]

WILDHOOD (2021) dir. Bretten Hannam In a rural East Coast trailer park, Link lives with his toxic father and younger half brother, Travis. When Link discovers his mother could still be alive, the siblings embark on a quest for a better life. On the road, they meet Pasmay, an openly two-spirit pow wow dancer drawn to Link. As the boys journey across Mi'kma'ki, Link finds community, identity, and love in the land where he belongs. (link in title)

[mogai-reblog]

As pride month is coming to a close, here's a positivity post for people who are often not included in these types of posts!!

For the hijras, for the tritiya prakritis, for the Hindu queers, for the Muslim queers, for the Christian queers, for the Jewish queers, for any religious queers, for the people who have a specific cultural/religious identity and thus doesn't see themselves as queer/LGBTQIA+, for the pangender agenders, for the mspec monospecs, for the gaybians, for the gais, for the strayts, for the nonbinary people who consider themselves straight, for the cis intersex people, for the straight people who are in a relationship with a nonbinary person and sees it as queer despite them being straight!, for the Palestinian queers both alive and dead, for the severely disabled queers, for the mid-high support needs queers, for the intellectually disabled queers

For the overshadowed people, for the hated people.

Of the people, for the people

[hexagon-club]

It happened again:

As far as I can tell this man's "non-binary" identity mostly consisted of being a man who wears earrings. He was still making some sort of a claim to being biologically black and/or indigenous though. I say these race fakers take it to the next step and just go "all my ancestors as far back as I can trace them are white, but I am black and Cherokee because race is just a social construct, so I can be whatever I want." I mean, why not, that's objectively no less ridiculous than their weird gender science is. Funny how words are allowed to mean things in one situation, but not another.

[puriette-archived]

✙𓈒 pink two-spirit ❞

a self indulgent pink two-spirit flag i made for my rentry. anyone can use it if they see it fit.

dividers by @narcbf

[thebaronfelidae]

Two-spirit

"“Two-spirit” refers to a person who identifies as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit, and is used by some Indigenous people to describe their sexual, gender and/or spiritual identity. As an umbrella term it may encompass same-sex attraction and a wide variety of gender variance, including people who might be described in Western culture as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, gender queer, cross-dressers or who have multiple gender identities."

Quote source: Two-Spirit Community

[butch-with-a-deep-voice]

Only part way through, but I just want to give this book a shout out. As an indigenous trans demisexual stone butch, this book has been just a joy to read so far. It's insightful, reflective, well researched, and most importantly imo easy to digest. Even if you don't identify with the ace spectrum I highly recommend it. (Actually, perhaps especially if you don't).

I may have a special interest in sexology. I may have some particularly "out there" kinks. A lot of what I post on this blog may be shameless sapphic horniness. But the thing a lot of allosexual people forget with demisexuality is that my sexuality is only given to those I choose to give it to. Those who "jumped" the demisexual hurdle so to speak. Our sex-obsessed society has otherwise boggled and fascinated me, often feeling like an outsider looking in. Constantly finding allure in it, but always thinking I was missing something as well. This led to a long sexual history of feeling guilty that I wasn't doing it right, I wasn't providing enough, I wasn't partying the right way, I wasn't living in my 20s the way you're supposed to, feeling guilty when I didn't orgasm by the end of a scene and needing to reassure my partner so much after that it's not their fault, etc. This resulted in compromising my own boundaries, as well as feeling othered in the relationship world, even amongst my own queer peers.

I'm now at a point of listening to myself and loving myself that I can celebrate how I experience and perceive sexuality. I can look at the fact that I will have a 5-hour scene where literally nothing happens to my own body, and not only is that alright, that is a beautiful experience of sexuality worthy of celebration. This book is proving validating and eye-opening at the same time. It is providing a large reminder that I am sacred, and only I dictate that.

My Two-Spirit body is sacred. My trans body is sacred. My demisexuality is sacred. My stone butch-ness is sacred. I am sacred.

[crystalsandbubbletea]

Nex

(Note: This is a long overdue tribute for Nex Benedict, a two-spirit teenager from the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma who was the victim of a hate crime)

The schools failed you,

The hospitals failed you,

The state failed you,

The country failed you.

The world has gone still,

The bird's song is now mournful.

When I found out I felt ill,

People go on about "protecting our children",

Yet where were they when you were dying?

The actions are scornful,

Where were they when you were dying?

Where were the people,

When Nex Benedict was dying?

[imthat1boy]

The LGBTIQCAPGNGFNBA (Sorry of it's not the full one)

Isn't an identity but a community.

You can be gay, trans, aro, ect, and not be in it.

But the reason it was made was because we're stronger together. Not because we are one single identity.

That's why there should be more inclusion.

It's a community. Treat it as such.

[spaceysoupy]

I also want white people to realize that it is incredibly common for two-spirit people to use a different label and pronouns when in predominantly white queer spaces because of how two spirits are treated. You can also be trans and nonbinary and also two-spirit separately.

When Nex’s community say they claim them as two-spirit, I believe them. Nex was one of our relations and the whole two-spirit community is grieving them. Please understand this is even more personal for Natives because this is yet another MMIP case that officials are attempting to swipe under the rug.

[vaquero-azul-art]

updated logo for my stuff!! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

I wanted to give him braids so we match and the old one I forgot to make him transparent so 🥲 finally got it right this time

I'm thinking of painting him on some fabric so I can have a table banner 🤔

[uwmspeccoll]

International Trans Day of Visibility

Today we are spotlighting a few of the books from our LGBTQ+ Collection that highlight trans lives and issues. Check out the photo captions to find out what books the images came from. 

International Transgender Day of Visibility was created in 2009 by therapist and transgender activist Rachel Crandall Crocker, partially as counterweight to Trans Day of Remembrance, a day of memoriam for all those lost to transgender violence. Crocker wanted "a day that we can just celebrate being ourselves.” More recently, Crocker spoke about the double-edge sword of visibility for trans folks, and called on allies of trans people to make themselves more visible. So for all the cis people reading this, think hard about how you are going to show up for the trans community today, and every day. 

-Olivia Hickner, Special Collections Graduate Intern