Reading your title i was very confused. Thought for a hot second you were talking about this.
[
Two-Spirit (also
two spirit or, occasionally,
twospirited) is a modern,
pan-Indian,
umbrella term used by some
Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional
third-gender (or other
gender-variant) ceremonial role in their cultures.
[1][2][3]
The term
two-spirit was created in 1990 at the Indigenous
lesbian and
gay international gathering in
Winnipeg, and "specifically chosen to distinguish and distance Native American/First Nations people from non-Native peoples."
[4] The primary purpose of coining a new term was to encourage the replacement of the outdated and considered offensive, anthropological term,
berdache.[5] While this new term has not been universally accepted—it has been criticized by traditional communities who already have their own terms for the people being grouped under this new term, and by those who reject what they call the "western"
binary implications, such as implying that Natives believe these individuals are "both male and female"
[4]—it has generally received more acceptance and use than the anthropological term it replaced.
[6][5][7]
"Two Spirit" is not interchangeable with "LGBT Native American" or "Gay Indian";
[2] rather, it was intended, despite being in English, to carry on the traditional meanings of the terms in Indigenous languages for the culturally-specific ceremonial roles that are recognized and confirmed by the Elders of the two-spirit's ceremonial community.
[1][2][4] Opinions vary as to whether or not this objective has succeeded.
[4][8] Often incorrectly used as a synonym for "
LGBT Native", the term and identity of two-spirit "does not make sense" unless it is contextualized within a
Native American or
First Nations framework and traditional cultural understanding.
[3][9][10] However, the gender-nonconforming, LGBT, or
third and fourth gender, ceremonial roles traditionally embodied by Native American and
FNIM people, intended to be under the modern umbrella of two-spirit, can vary widely, even among the Indigenous people who accept the English-language term. No one Native American/First Nations' culture's gender or sexuality categories apply to all, or even a majority of, these cultures.
[4][8]]