For Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, and Queer Pri Month, Dennis Zotigh, a cultural specialist at the Natnal Mm of the Amerin Indian, ved Native iends to tell how their tradnal culture saw s LGBTQ members. A Chirihua Apache iend replied, “Now, Dennis, this is a human qutn, not [jt] Native.” We agree. But we also appreciate hearg what Native Amerins have learned, renstcted, or been unable to renstct about this part of our shared history and experience.
Contents:
- NATIVE AMERIN YEARNS FOR OLD VIEWS OF GAYS, LBIANS
- MORE THAN JT THE “GAY INDIANS”
- TWO-SPIR PEOPLE: GAYS ACCEPTED BY NATIVE AMERINS
NATIVE AMERIN YEARNS FOR OLD VIEWS OF GAYS, LBIANS
“All my life, I was told that beg gay was wrong, pecially at the rervatn, ” said Stabler, now 32.
MORE THAN JT THE “GAY INDIANS”
It wasn’t always that direct, but “I felt like nobody liked gay people. But there was a different time, when gays and lbians were not only accepted Native muni but, some s, revered bee they embodied the “two spirs:” male and female.
As a rult, she said, gay youth, Native or otherwise, “have sometim been ostracized and intified as different. Cly Tyndall, the Indian Center’s executive director, said a creed of acceptance is ed the way of his people and that more mt be done to help gay and Lbian youth. Stabler, who is now openly gay and is a mted relatnship wh a non-Native man, nces he do not know a lot about the old ncept of “two spirs.
” But he yearns for the old ways of thkg about gays and lbians.
TWO-SPIR PEOPLE: GAYS ACCEPTED BY NATIVE AMERINS
“There is nothg stoppg them om allowg gays and lbians to marry, ” he said, assertg that trib have their own thory to grant same-sex marriage licens.