#twospirits — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #twospirits, aggregated by home.social.
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A Map of Gender-Diverse Cultures
This text and the language in the corresponding map was updated in consultation with a world gender expert in October, 2023.
"Throughout recorded history and since time immemorial, thriving cultures have recognized, revered, and integrated more than two genders. Terms such as #transgender, gay, or bisexual are Western constructs that often assume three things: that there are only two sexes (male/female), as many as three sexualities (gay/straight/bisexual), and only two #genders (man/woman).
"Even after the end of the modern era and as the #colonial period wanes, hundreds of distinct #Indigenous societies around the globe still retain their own long-established traditions for third, fourth, fifth, or more genders. The subject of #TwoSpirits, Fred Martinez, for example, was not a boy who wanted to be a girl, but both a boy and a girl — an identity his Navajo culture recognized and revered as #nádleehí. Meanwhile, Hina of Kumu Hina is part of a #NativeHawaiian culture that has traditionally revered and respected #mahu, those who embody both male and female spirit. It’s not uncommon for third gender people to perform critical spiritual and religious functions in their communities.
"Among many Indigenous societies, two prominent features often distinguish the lives and social roles of third gender persons from those of cisgender persons or contemporary transgender persons in non-Indigenous societies. The first is that many Indigenous terms for third gender people contain both the word for 'man' and 'woman' in their construction, and that #ThirdGender people are seen as embodying both of those genders in diverse ways. The second is that the history of many third genders is in the community role of religious specialists, which also takes diverse forms, depending on the beliefs of diverse cultures. While not all third gender persons are defined in these terms, across our species, this phenomenon of the third gender religious specialist, healer, or spiritual worker has been part of our #CollectiveIdentity and human experience since time immemorial.
"Since the beginning of the 21st century, we’ve seen tremendous expansion of the role that transgender, #GenderDiverse, and third gender people have in society, following the tenuous establishment of civil rights for #gay and #lesbian people in many nations and increased access to #genderaffirming care in the transgender community. Many Indigenous transgender people who also identify as third gender are familiar to large audiences via their participation in popular media or social media activism. Third gender people, like the Japanese-Samoan, #Faafafine artist Yuki Kihara, now participate in major global cultural events and function not just as representatives of their gender-based community, but of their nation. Kihara had both a solo exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and represented New Zealand at the 2021 Venice Biennale. [For more: '#LGBTQIA+ Pride and Two-Spirit People' in Smithsonian Voices.]
"In the 21st century, many third gender people choose to take advantage of #GenderAffirmingCare, and identify, in addition to being third gender, as transgender. As access to gender-affirming care parallels healthcare access, and both third gender and Indigenous persons are often marginalized economically, it is not as readily available to many Indigenous transgender people, and within Indigenous cultures, medical transition is often seen as separate or secondary to social transition.
"Within #Western societies, despite centuries of suppression, there are still traces of a past when third or fourth or more genders were recognized within many cultures and societies. In rare cases, they presently exist. An example of this would be the #burrnesha of Albania, women who give up their social role as women to live as men. Likewise, within Jewish culture and law, as many as eight genders have been historically recognized, and in diverse ways.
"Take a tour with this world map, and learn how many cultures see gender diversity."
Learn more:
https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/content/two-spirits_map-html/#PBS #GenderDiversity #CulturalTraditions #Genders #ThreeGenders #ThirdGender #FiveGenders #Gender #GBLTQ #Genders
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[LIVE] #NationalDayOfMourning 2025, (27 November 25 @ 12pm ET)
"Since 1970, Indigenous people & their allies have gathered at noon on Cole's Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US Thanksgiving holiday. Many Native people do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims & other European settlers. Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands and the erasure of Native cultures. Participants in National Day of Mourning honor Indigenous ancestors and Native resilience. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection, as well as a protest against the racism and oppression that Indigenous people continue to experience worldwide."
National Day of Mourning
Thursday, November 27, 2025
12:00 Noon
Cole's Hill (above Plymouth Rock), Plymouth, MALivestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/6u-jF6pHDBg
#UnitedAmericanIndiansOfNewEngland #UAINE #PlymouthMassachusetts #ClimateJustice #DayOfMourning #NoDAPL #LandBack
#DefendTheSacred #MMIWG #NoPipelines #LeaveItInTheGround #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong #LoveYourMotherEarth #ResistWhiteSupremacy #CorporateColonialism #Capitalism
#NativeAmericanActivism #DayOfMourning #Solidarity #WeWillContinue #PlymouthRock
#Wampanoag #FrankJames #FrankWamsuttaJames
#SettlerColonialism #IndigenousHistory
#AmericanHistory #Mayflower
#ThanksgivingMyth #InTheSpiritOfMetacom #LGBTQ #TwoSpirits #MMIWG #LandBack #Resistance #ProtectMotherEarth #FreePalestine #CorporateColonialism #Capitalism #NoMiningWithoutConsent #ColonialismIsACrime #IndigenousResistance #DefendTheSacred #ManifestDestiny -
#BrooklynNY to #PlymouthMA - Thursday, November 27
#NationalDayOfMourningBus leaves @ 6am
Location: Flanbwayan
3116 Clarendon Rd.
(Bet. E. 31st & E. 32nd)
#BrooklynNY 11226
Bus fee $50
(#2 or 5 train to Beverly)FMI - https://www.uaine.org/2025_ndom/NDOM%20Orientation%202025.pdf
#UnitedAmericanIndiansOfNewEngland #UAINE #PlymouthMassachusetts #ClimateJustice #DayOfMourning #NoDAPL #LandBack
#DefendTheSacred #MMIWG #NoPipelines #LeaveItInTheGround #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong #LoveYourMotherEarth #ResistWhiteSupremacy #CorporateColonialism #Capitalism
#NativeAmericanActivism #DayOfMourning #Solidarity #WeWillContinue #PlymouthRock
#Wampanoag #FrankJames #FrankWamsuttaJames
#SettlerColonialism #IndigenousHistory
#AmericanHistory #Mayflower
#ThanksgivingMyth #InTheSpiritOfMetacom #LGBTQ #TwoSpirits #MMIWG #LandBack #Resistance #ProtectMotherEarth #FreePalestine #CorporateColonialism #Capitalism #NoMiningWithoutConsent #ColonialismIsACrime #IndigenousResistance #DefendTheSacred #ManifestDestiny -
Join the Bronx Bus for the #NationalDayOfMourning Pilgrimage to #PlymouthMA in resistance to
#SettlerColonialLies!Meet us on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025
6:00 AM @ Yankee Stadium
corner of 161st St and River Ave, BXFMI - https://www.uaine.org/2025_ndom/NDOM%20Orientation%202025.pdf
#UnitedAmericanIndiansOfNewEngland #UAINE #PlymouthMassachusetts #ClimateJustice #DayOfMourning #NoDAPL #LandBack
#DefendTheSacred #MMIWG #NoPipelines #LeaveItInTheGround #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong #LoveYourMotherEarth #ResistWhiteSupremacy #CorporateColonialism #Capitalism
#NativeAmericanActivism #DayOfMourning #Solidarity #WeWillContinue #PlymouthRock
#Wampanoag #FrankJames #FrankWamsuttaJames
#SettlerColonialism #IndigenousHistory
#AmericanHistory #Mayflower
#ThanksgivingMyth #InTheSpiritOfMetacom #LGBTQ #TwoSpirits #MMIWG #LandBack #Resistance #ProtectMotherEarth #FreePalestine #CorporateColonialism #Capitalism #NoMiningWithoutConsent #ColonialismIsACrime #IndigenousResistance #DefendTheSacred #ManifestDestiny -
By #UnitedAmericanIndiansOfNewEngland (#UAINE) Updated November 22, 2025 - #Resist!
"Since 1970, Indigenous people & their allies have gathered at noon on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US Thanksgiving holiday. Many Native people do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims & other European settlers. Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands and the erasure of Native cultures. Participants in National Day of Mourning honor Indigenous ancestors and Native resilience. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection, as well as a protest against the racism and oppression that Indigenous people continue to experience worldwide.
National Day of Mourning
Thursday, November 27, 2025
12:00 Noon
Cole’s Hill (above #PlymouthRock), #PlymouthMAJoin us as we continue to create a true awareness of Native peoples and history. Help shatter the untrue image of the Pilgrims, and the unjust system based on #WhiteSupremacy, #SettlerColonialism, #sexism, #homophobia and the profit-driven destruction of the Earth that they and other European settlers introduced to these shores.
#Solidarity with #IndigenousStruggles throughout the world!
From #TurtleIsland to #Palestine, #Colonialism is a Crime!
While many supporters will attend in person, we will also Livestream the event from Plymouth.
United American Indians of New England (decolonizing since 1970)
[email protected] * #UAINENo sit-down social, but box lunches will be available.
Masks required.What is National Day of Mourning?
An annual tradition since 1970, National Day of Mourning is a solemn, spiritual and highly political day. Many of us fast from sundown the day before through the afternoon of that day (and have a social after #NDOM so that participants in NDOM can break their fasts). We are mourning our ancestors and the #genocide of our peoples and the theft of our lands. NDOM is a day when we mourn, but we also feel our strength in action and solidarity.
When and where is Day of Mourning?
Thursday, November 27, 2025 (U.S. “thanksgiving” day) at Cole’s Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts, 12 noon SHARP. Cole’s Hill is the hill above Plymouth Rock in the Plymouth historic waterfront area. The rallies and marches will last until approximately 3 pm.
Will there be a march?
Yes, there will be a march through the historic district of Plymouth. Plymouth agreed, as part of the settlement of 10/19/98, that UAINE may march on National Day of Mourning without the need for a permit as long as we give the town advance notice.
Program
Although we very much welcome our non-Native supporters to join us, it is a day when only Indigenous people speak about our history and the struggles that are taking place throughout the Americas. Speakers are by invitation only. This year’s NDOM will be livestreamed from Plymouth.
Note that NDOM is not a powwow or commercial event, so we ask that people do not sell merchandise or distribute leaflets at the outdoor program. We will have UAINE t-shirts available for sale following the march.
We also ask that you do not eat (unless you must do so for medical reasons) at the outdoor speak-out and march out of respect for the participants who are fasting.
Dress for the weather!Social
There will be box lunches available for distribution after the march (turkey and vegan), but we will not have a full sit-down social.
Livestream
If you cannot get to Plymouth, you can watch ourlivestream!"
FMI - https://popularresistance.org/national-day-of-mourning-2/
Link to livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/live/6u-jF6pHDBg#NativeAmericanActivism #DayOfMourning #Solidarity #WeWillContinue #PlymouthRock
#Wampanoag #FrankJames #FrankWamsuttaJames
#SettlerColonialism #IndigenousHistory
#AmericanHistory #Mayflower
#ThanksgivingMyth #InTheSpiritOfMetacom #LGBTQ #TwoSpirits #MMIWG #LandBack #Resistance #ProtectMotherEarth #FreePalestine #CorporateColonialism #Capitalism #NoMiningWithoutConsent #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #LeaveItInTheGround #ColonialismIsACrime #IndigenousResistance #DefendTheSacred #ManifestDestiny -
#IndigenousPeoples’ Day: #LGBTQ+ films, TV shows, and docs to watch
Bernardo Sim, Mon, October 13, 2025
"Hollywood has had a long history of excluding Indigenous peoples from mainstream media — often turning real stories and individuals into senseless caricatures that are more widely understood by the general public.
"Thankfully, several young #Indigenous writers, directors, actors, musicians, and performance artists have been actively fighting back in recent years to reclaim narratives, be accurately visible, and have ownership of their own stories.
"Though we’re still far from an ideal standard, reflecting on this painful history and looking forward to a more equitable future are great activities to honor Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Below, a list of films, TV shows, and documentaries that center and/or feature LGBTQ+ Indigenous identities."
Read more:
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/indigenous-peoples-day-lgbtq-films-122641012.html#IndigenousWriters #IndigenousActors #IndigenousDirectors #IndigenousRepresentation #LGBTQNativeAmericans #LGBTQRepresentation #ReservationDogs #Navajo #DrunktownsFinest #RutherfordFalls #CertainWomen #Wildwood #TwoSpirits #Annishaabe #Firesong
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More from #KishaJames' powerful speech at the #NationalDayOfMourning :
We Will Continue
"We will continue to gather on this hill until we are free from this oppressive system -- until corporations and the U.S. military stop polluting the Earth, until we dismantle the brutal apparatus of mass incarceration.
"We will not stop until the oppression of our LGBTQ and Two Spirit siblings is a thing of the past; until unhoused people have homes; until there are no more murdered and missing indigenous women and other relatives; until human beings are no longer deported or locked in cages at the U.S. border -- despite the fact that no one no one is illegal on stolen land; until no person goes hungry or is left to die because they have little or no access to quality health care; until insulin is free; until union busting is a thing of the past.
"We will not stop until the U.S. ends its Colonial occupations of Puerto Rico and the Sovereign Kingdom of Hawaii; until the U.S. stops its warmongering worldwide; until the US ends its interventions in Haiti and repays the billions it stole from the Haitian
people; until the U.S. pays reparations to Black Americans; until land back for Native Nations; until Free Palestine."Until then, the struggle will continue -- in the spirit of Crazy Horse, in the spirit of Metacom, in the spirit of Geronimo, above all, to all people who fight and struggle for real Justice.
"We are not vanishing we are not conquered. We are as strong as ever."
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/11/in-her-grandfathers-legacy-kisha-james.html
#NationalDayOfMourning #PlymouthRock #Wampanoag #SettlerColonialism #DayOfMourning
#InTheSpiritOfMetacom
#ReaderSupportedNews #LGBTQ #TwoSpirits #MMIWG -
#NativeAmericans Hold #NationalDayOfMourning on #Thanksgiving
"'Thanksgiving' is a white-washed holiday designed to conceal its true origins of violence, #genocide, #LandTheft, and #ForcedAssimilation," - #IndigenousEnvironmentalNetwork.
Jessica Corbett
Nov 28, 2024"In contrast with Thanksgiving celebrations across the United States on Thursday, Native Americans held a National Day of Mourning, promoted accurate history, and championed Indigenous voices and struggles.
"Despite rainy conditions, the United American Indians of New England held its 55th annual National Day of Mourning at Cole's Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Kisha James, who is an enrolled member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and also Oglala Lakota, shared how her grandfather founded the event in 1970 and pledged to continue to "tear down the Thanksgiving mythology."
"The past influences the present" and "the settler project" continues with racism, misogyny, and anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, James told the crowd. "The Pilgrims are not ancient history."
"James took aim at fossil fuel pipelines, oil rigs, skyscrapers, corporations, the U.S. military, mass incarceration, and the criminalization of immigrants, and declared that "no one is illegal on stolen on land."
"Jean-Luc Pierite, a member of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana and president of the board of directors of the North American Indian Center of Boston who helped organize this year's gathering, told USA Today that "while we are mourning some tragic history but also contemporary issues, we are also expressing gratitude for each [other] and building this community space."
"Coming together as a community for a feast and to express gratitude—that's not something that was imported to this continent because of colonization," Pierite said. "Indigenous peoples have had these practices going back beyond, beyond colonial contact."
This year's event in Plymouth included speeches about the suffering of Palestinians—as Israel wages a U.S. government-backed war on the Gaza Strip that has killed at least 44,330 people, injured 104,933, and led to a genocide case at the International Court of Justice—and of people impacted by extractive industries.
"The message from Indigenous peoples internationally has been consistent: that we need to center the development of traditional ecological knowledge, Indigenous knowledge, and move away from fossil fuel extractive economies," said Pierite. "At this time the world needs Indigenous peoples."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/native-americans-hold-national-day-of-mourning-on-thanksgiving
#FreePalestine #FreeLeonardPeltier #SettlerColonialism #FreePalestine #FreeGaza #WestBank #ClimateJustice #DayOfMourning #NoDAPL #LandBack #DefendTheSacred
#IndigenousClimateActivists #MMIWG
#TwoSpirits #NoPipelines
#LeaveItInTheGround
#ExtractiveMining
#NoMiningWithoutConsent
#WaterIsLife #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong #ExtractiveIndustries.
#TraditionalEcologicalKnowledge, #IndigenousKnowledge #PostFossilFuels
#LoveYourMotherEarth #ResistWhiteSupremacy
#CorporateColonialism #Capitalism -
[Watch] #NationalDayOfMourning 2024
#PlymouthMassachusetts, November 28, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/live/pdpBNKI31TA
#FreePalestine #FreeLeonardPeltier
#FreeGaza #WestBank #ClimateJustice
#DayOfMourning #NoDAPL
#LandBack #DefendTheSacred
#IndigenousClimateActivists #MMIWG
#TwoSpirits #NoPipelines
#LeaveItInTheGround
#ExtractiveMining
#NoMiningWithoutConsent
#WaterIsLife #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong
#LoveYourMotherEarth #ResistWhiteSupremacy
#CorporateColonialism #Capitalism -
Native Warrior Women
Indian women have always been written out of history, but their bravery is being rediscovered in archives and Native oral traditions.
May 11, 2023
“#Cheyenne warrior #BuffaloCalfRoadWoman had fought a number of battles in leadership roles. At the Battle of the #LittleBigHorn, it is told she charged #Custer, grabbed his saber and stabbed him, knocking him off his horse, killing him. Afterward, Cheyenne and #Arapaho women stabbed their awls in Custer’s ears, chanting ‘you will listen to our people in the next world.’ They were avenged.'
"She wasn’t the only female warrior at the Little Big Horn. The Arapaho Chief, #PrettyNose, fought there, too. She lived to be 101 years old and her grandson served in the Korean War as a U.S. Marine and later an Arapaho chief, just like his grandmother.
"Lozen (c. 1840-June 17, 1889) was a female warrior and prophet of the Chihenne Chiricahua #Apache who fought beside #Geronimo. She was the sister of Victorio, a prominent chief. Born into the #Chihenne band during the 1840s, Lozen was, according to legends, able to use her powers in battle to learn the movements of the enemy. The Apache tribesman, scholar and author, James Kaywaykla, was a child during the fighting days of Geronimo, Lozen and Victorio. Kaywaykla wrote, as a child:
"'I saw a magnificent woman on a beautiful horse—Lozen, sister of Victorio. Lozen the woman warrior! High above her head she held her rifle. 'She could ride, shoot, and fight like a man, and I think she had more ability in planning military strategy than did Victorio.'
"He added that Chief Victorio honored his sister as a great warrior: "Lozen is my right hand ... strong as a man, braver than most, and cunning in strategy. Lozen is a shield to her people."
Lozen fought beside Geronimo after his breakout from the San Carlos reservation in 1885, in the last campaign of the Apache wars. The band was pursued relentlessly by both the U.S. and Mexican cavalries. According to Alexander B. Adams in his book Geronimo, Lozen would try to ascertain where the enemy was by standing 'with her arms outstretched, chant a prayer to Ussen, the Apaches' supreme deity, and slowly turn around.' The band often relied on her strategic prowess.
"In 1885, Geronimo and about 140 of his followers, including Lozen, fled the reservation when they heard rumors that they were to be imprisoned on Alcatraz Island. Lozen and another female warrior, Dahteste, were designated to try to negotiate a peace treaty. Ultimately, after Geronimo's final surrender, Lozen traveled as a prisoner of war to the barracks in Mount Vernon, Alabama. There, along with many of her fellow warriors, Lozen died in confinement of tuberculosis in 1889.
"#Dahteste was a #Mescalero Apache warrior who rode with Lozen. Dahteste was fluent in English and often acted as a translator for the Apache people and was designated to lead in treaty negotiations with the American and Mexican armies. When Geronimo surrendered, she was arrested alongside Geronimo and Lozen, but was shipped to St. Augustine, Florida, rather than the barracks in Alabama. Nevertheless, like other prisoners in Florida, she contracted tuberculosis and pneumonia, but managed to survive both. Some scholars believe that #Lozen and Dahteste were #TwoSpirits and lovers."
https://www.notesfromthefrontier.com/post/native-warrior-women