All you need to know about Two-spirit Queer folks!
Here the term folks possess a literal meaning for tribes and indigenous people and the queer people who belong to these natives are tagged as two-spirit queer people. Many queer community people don't have a bare minimum about these people and hardly any modern scenario metropolitan person knows about these queer people. Thanks to the vast inclusivity of the world's queer community where activists from various countries have included two-spirit people in the acronym of queer culture LGBTQ2SIA+ Here 2S means Two-spirit people.
But who are they? Why are these people are so underrated that many others don't even recognise their existence? Is two-spirit, gender identity or sexual orientation? Can anyone be identified with this term? Why are these people notified only at their natives and nowhere else? How do these people come into the picture of queer culture? It is very understandable to have a lot of questions and too much confusion regarding these queer folks. But before getting to all these questions, let's travel back in time to gain clarity.
Every person on this earth belongs to some community and some culture which specifies various people have various cultures and various stories to carry forward from their ancestors. Native American culture includes some modern Pan Indian tribes, and a few first nations communities recognised by the Canadian government. The queer people who belong to these communities are tagged as two-spirited people which specifies that others can never fall under this particular queer roof even though their identities resemble.
Speaking of identities, two-spirit is not a sexual orientation for sure. It is not even one of the gender identities like binary and non-binary. It is a personal gender identity, also considered the third gender in these specific communities. This is the precise reason why a queer person who doesn't belong to these indigenous folks can never consider oneself as two-spirit even though the term sounds fancy, trendy and more queer-oriented.
Two-spirit means possessing two diverse personalities in one person regardless of the gender assigned during one's birth. In these Native American communities, males and females exist and at the same time, queer people who get attracted to both same-sex and opposite-sex by feeling like both male and female by bearing one body are considered two-spirited people. If you compare it with other queer identities, like androgynous, genderqueer and bi-gender, you feel a similar connection but those identities are for the people who don't belong to these particular indigenous communities.
In the previous eras, these two-spirited people used to maintain an equal place in society like others. Also, these people were worshipped for their unique identities but after colonisation things became worse for these people and gradually they were mistreated, suppressed and even severely punished for their existence. After these circumstances, society started treating these two-spirited people as sinful. But, thanks to the modern scenario where many changes took place in the 90s after the legalisation of same-sex relationships, and the identification of transgenders and cross-dressers, the aspect of two-spirit queer folks came into the picture once again in the queer history.
And now the queer culture is proudly celebrating the existence of these two-spirited queer folks by including them in the queer community and recognising their queer personalities by not compromising their cultural, social and societal influences in their respective communities and countries. By all means, you may feel that you are a person who carries both male and female spirits and gets attracted to both males and females but if you are not one among those indigenous people from Native America, then you are not considered a two-spirit queer person. So, let's celebrate the cultural appropriation that is dedicated to these queer folks instead of entangling the identities to create more confusion.
It is all clear if you know two-spirit people are the third gender, queer people from some indigenous natives and tribes who carry both the typical male and female personalities by enjoying the sexual attractions, behavioural patterns and dressing attributes of both male and female. This Pride month let's appreciate the existence of two-spirit queer people as part of the community!
