Two-spirit Identity: Active resistance to multiple oppressions Directions: Research and Policy on Eliminating Racism, Volume 5, Number 1 By Alex

Wilson, Associate Professor, University of Saskatchewan The Meaning of Two-SpiritAn ever-increasing proportion of First Nations, Mtis and other Aboriginal lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people describe themselves as two-spirit. Two-spirit is an empowered identity that emerged within the context of sustained racism, homophobia and sexism. It is very contemporary and, at the same time, deeply rooted in history and tradition. When someone states that they are two-spirit, they are proclaiming an identity that honours and integrates sexuality, gender, culture, spirituality and all other aspects of who they are. The term two-spirit first appeared in the 1990s, in the midst of a movement among LGBT Aboriginal people to organize and develop a collective identity. A considerable body of literature about LGBT Indigenous Americans existed at that time. However, virtually all the authors of these texts whether they were explorers, missionaries, other early immigrants to this continent or conventional or LGBT anthropologists and historians were of European descent and the literature consisted primarily of texts written for nonIndigenous people, offering non-Indigenous interpretations of and attributing nonIndigenous meanings to Indigenous peoples customs, bodies, behaviours and lives. In Canada, government policies and actions have threatened the integrity of Aboriginal peoples families, relationships and other loving partnerships, communities and nations. Aggressive assimilation activities have attempted to displace our own understandings, practices and teachings around sexuality, gender and relationships and replace them with mainstream, Judeo-Christian/Euro-Canadian ones. Ironically, for many LGBT Aboriginal people, we have tried to repair this loss of cultural continuity and better understand who we are by turning to historians, anthropologists and the deeply compromised body of literature described above. Reclaiming Our Authority Two-spirit identity, however, reclaims our authority to define who we are. It connects us to our past and restores cultural links that had been disturbed or severed by systemic and institutionalized racism, sexism and homophobia. In research activities for my doctoral thesis, I asked two-spirit people to talk with me about their identity. They described feeling accepted and embraced by their families and communities at the beginning of their lives and then encountering racism, sexism and/or homophobia at a relatively young age, experiences that diminished and fragmented their sense of self. They now linked these experiences to the history of colonization in Canada and, in particular, the negative intergenerational impacts of the residential school system. They recognized that these historic experiences and the accompanying imposition of Christianity had attacked the foundations of their families, communities and cultures and engendered shame, cultural confusion and self-division. For this group of two-spirit people, as they grew older and their racial/sexual/gender identity became more articulated and identifiable, they were exposed to more and more

homophobia in their families and communities. Ultimately, many participants made a decision to cut themselves loose, to escape from homophobia, sexism and racism by leaving their home communities. Moving to the city provided opportunities to actively and openly explore their sexualities, genders and identities and most who made this transition found valuable supports and resources there that helped them, to varying extents, to come to terms with aspects of who they were. Eventually, however, they recognized that, as Aboriginal LGBT people, their stories, experiences and identities differ in many ways from those of mainstream LGBT Canadians. Coming In: Affirming an Identity As a final step in the development of their identities as two-spirit people, group members recognized that, rather than trying to squeeze into someone elses established identity, they needed an identity that fit who they were. Two-spirit identity fits their distinct cultures, histories and ways of being. Unlike mainstream coming out stories, in which an LGBT person typically announces and asserts their individual right to be who they are, the narratives of these two-spirit people describe a process of 'coming in' and affirming an interdependent identity. 'Coming in' is not a declaration or an announcement; it is simply presenting oneself and being fully present as an Aboriginal person who is GLBT. Two-spirit identity is an empowered identity that integrates their sexuality, culture, gender and all other aspects of who they understand and know themselves to be. By coming into their identity as two-spirit people, they acknowledged their place and value in their own families, communities, cultures, history and present-day world.