Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
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can gays. In Michael Red Earths case, attending the Second Annual
Native Gay and Lesbian Gathering helped him reconnect with his Native heritage (Red Earth 214).
There have been similar feelings of frustration from gay Native
Americans who have urbanized. Beverly Little Thunder is a Lakota
womyn and a follower of Christianity. She stated, I felt torn between
Christianity, which was part of my life, and the traditions in which I
was raised. I did not seem to fit into the Christian world, yet I was also
aware of the homophobia in the world of my people. I could not find
peace in being who I was (Little Thunder 20506). Her divided loyalties led her to partake in the American Indian Movement to educate
herself about her Native past and the spirituality it encompassed. She
participated in the Sun Dance Ceremony, but realized that she would
never truly be accepted because there was still a pervading notion of
homophobia, even within this proud Native American community.
Beverly Little Thunder was told by elder Lakota wimmin that our
people have trouble remembering the place of honor that my kind once
held. I was told to go and have a ceremony for others like myself. I
was told to listen to Spirit (206). Beverly held her own wimmin-only
Sun Dances where the spirituality of the Native people was remembered and captivated (207). This quest for self-actualization is what has
defined many contemporary gay Native Americans who have migrated
to urban centers and what has brought them peace in living within the
urban areas of America.
Contemporary Native Americans discomfort with being categorized as gay or lesbian has led to their self-actualization by
renaming themselves as Two-Spirits. The term Two-Spirit
originated in Winnipeg, Canada in 1990 during the third annual intertribal Native American/First Nations gay and lesbian conference. It
comes from the Ojibwa words niizh manitoag (Two-Spirit). This name
was given in order to separate Native/First Nations alternative gendered
people from non-Native gays and lesbians, as well as from the Europeangiven word berdache (Two-Spirit). This word is significant because
it is a self-proclaimed term, not one forced upon them like berdache
was previously. Two-spirit differs from berdache in that it is an allencompassing term that recognizes the differences of gender categorization within each tribe based on differences in spirituality. Its use
has been beneficial particularly in urban communities for it provides
a sense of community and support for Native Americans who choose
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cultural education, and plan for action and social change in the reeducation and revival of Native traditions (Two Spirit Society of Denver).
Works Cited
BAAIT-S. 2006. Retrieved May 1, 2006 <http://www.baaits.org/>.
Butler, Judith. 2004. Undoing Gender. New York: Routledge, 2004.
116.
Christianity and Homosexuality. 22 April 2006. Retrieved May 1, 2006
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_and Christianity#
The_Bible_and_homosexuality>.
Goulet, Jean-Guy A. The Berdache/Two-Spirit: A Comparison of
Anthropological and Native Constructions of Gendered Identities
Among the Northern Athapaskans. In Journal of the Royal
Anthropological Institute 2 (4) (1996): 683701.
Lang, Sabine. Lesbians, Men-Women and Two-Spirits: Homosexuality
and Gender in Native American Cultures. In Female Desires.
New York: Columbia UP, 1999. 91116.
Little Thunder, Beverly. I am a Lakota Womyn. In Two-Spirit
People. Eds. Sue-Ellen Jacobs, Wesley Thomas, and Sabine Lang.
Chicago: U of Illinois P, 1997. 21016.
Medicine, Beatrice. Changing Native American Sex Roles. In TwoSpirit People. Eds. Sue-Ellen Jacobs, Wesley Thomas, and Sabine
Lang. Chicago: U of Illinois P, 1997. 14555.
Red Earth, Michael. Traditional Influences on a Contemporary GayIdentified Sisseton Dakota. In Two-Spirit People. Eds. Sue-Ellen
Jacobs, Wesley Thomas, and Sabine Lang. Chicago: U of Illinois
P, 1997. 21016.
Religion and Homosexuality. 28 April 2006. Retrieved May 1, 2006
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_and_homosexuality
#Christianity>.
The Two Spirit Society of Denver. 2006. Retrieved May 1, 2006
<http://www.denvertwospirit.com/index.php>.
Two-Spirit. 17 April 2006. Retrieved May 1, 2006 <http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Berdache>.
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