LGBTQ2S & Two-Spirit Gender Meaning- 5 Things To Know!
Know the meaning of Two-Spirit or 2S, LGBTQ2S, and LGBTQ2S+. Mind you, it’s much more than being queer and Native.
The world is a diverse and beautiful place. It is full of people with varying sexual orientations ranging from straight & bisexuals to gays & lesbians to queer & questioning. Sexual orientations and the spectrum they fall into are generally known by the acronym LGBTQ+ or LGBTTQQIAAPP. Okay! So what is LGBTQ2S & LGBTQ2S+, and how it is different from LGBTQ+? To start with let us know the full form of LGBTQ2S+. LGBTQ2S+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning and Two-Spirit. The plus(+) sign denotes other sexual orientations and gender identities. Such a spectrum of sexual orientations is also known by another acronym LGBTQ+. In fact, the word two-spirit in the acronym LGBTQ2S+ predates the acronym LGBTQ+.
Let us now decode the meaning of LGBTQ2S or LGBTQ2S+ and understand the two-spirited gender meaning. Meanwhile, to know more about what LGBTQ+ or LGBTTQQIAAPP stand for, click here.
What does LGBTQ2S stand for & what is the two-spirit gender meaning?
Let us understand the meaning of 2S first. The term 2S stands for two-spirit or 2 spirit. But what does 2 spirit mean? The term two-spirit is used for someone who identifies himself as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit living inside his body. In short, a two-spirited character embodies a person in which both genders are residing.
Two-spirit is an umbrella term that many people now use for both same-sex attraction and a wide array of gender diversity. People now use two-spirit to include all those who identify themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transexual, queer, intersex, questioning or those having multiple gender identities. Therefore, the definition of the two-spirit gender meaning also includes all sexual orientations, gender identities and spiritual identities. If we compare two-spirit to the most appropriate gender identity from the modern world, it will be queer. Queer is also a generic umbrella term to define varying sexualities.
Origin of the two-spirit (2S)- Two-Spirit Gender Meaning!
So how did the two-spirit term originate? LGBTQ2S+, or a two-spirit term, specifically, is a term used by indigenous people to describe their sexual identities. Later on, the 2-S term was extended to include all same-sex attractions and gender identities.
||||||||If you are not native then you are not two-spirit. If you are not native, then you do not get to claim a two-spirit identity. The term two-spirit is not an umbrella term for LGBTQ identities.
The term got its name from indigenous tribes of North America & Canada to describe their sexual, gender and/or spiritual identities. This term was originally used for people who identified themselves as having spirits of both male and female. Also, since these indigenous communities did not have any other term to describe the gender identities or sexual orientations, they used the term two-spirit. In the present time, some cultures or indigenous languages do not have any term to describe same-sex attraction or other gender identities. Therefore, they use the term two-spirited.
|||||||Two-Spirit is a term created by Native people for Native people.
The term was coined in 1990
The native North Americans and associated communities use two-spirited gender identity to denote traditional third-gender roles in their communities. These two-spirited people are held in high regard and considered divine beings as they believe that ‘all lives are sacred.’ Social activist Albert McLeod coined the term in 1990 to include all the indigenous people in the LGBTQ+ community. Although different indigenous communities or cultures have their own nomenclatures for the LGBTQ2S+ term, all the terms refer to the same traits embodied by two-spirited people.
In some cultures like India, the two-spirit people maintained a distinguished gender status and are considered neither men nor women.
For generations, the two-spirit people from the indigenous culture went undercover to avoid detection and killing.
So what does 2 spirit mean now?
Now, The two-Spirit is regarded as a modern, umbrella term specific to the indigenous LGBTTQQIAAPP community. Although the term denotes genders and orientations, it simply means a person who is both indigenous and queer.
Things you should know about two-spirit people denoted by 2S in the acronym LGBTQ2S+
- Two-spirit is not a modern movement
The term was coined in 1990 by social activist Albert McLeod to include all the indigenous people in the LGBTQ+ community. But this thought existed way before that.
The term two-spirit does not refer to a specific gender and is instead a universal term that expresses a wide variety of people who don’t fit in with the traditional gender binary roles. Two-spirit people have characteristics of both males and females and as seen as people blessed by God to see life from the lens of both genders.
Two-spirit is not a contemporary movement and finds its origin in the indigenous cultures. This indigenous gender identity goes back centuries.
2. Being gay is not the same as being two-spirit
People often confuse gay people with being two-spirit. But they are not the same. Being gay is about being attracted to a person of the same sex. Two-spirit is about the materialization of both genders within one person. It means that a person who is two-spirit can be gay, but not all gay people are two-spirits.
3. Not all two-spirit people express themselves in the same way
Like other gender orientations and identities, there is no single way
someone who identifies as two-spirit looks or behaves. For example, a two-spirit person who is an assigned female at birth could dress like a male to express her masculine side. But at the same time, she also dresses like a female and retains her feminine side. And this could also work the opposite way. Not all two-spirit people express themselves in the same way.
4. Two-Spirit is a term mainly used for native people
As already discussed above, two-spirit is a character that finds its origin in the indigenous tribes of North America/Canada and encompassed tribal people who were gender fluid, queer, gender non-conforming. That means if someone does not belong to a tribe, he cannot claim the term two-spirit to describe his sexual orientation or gender identity.
5. Two-spirit people had a significant role in the tribe.
The native North Americans and associated communities use two-spirited gender identity to denote traditional third-gender roles in their communities. These two-spirited people are held in high regard and considered divine beings as they believe that ‘all lives are sacred.’ The two-spirit people held a sacred role in the tribe. They were seen as having special qualities and were often ascribed important roles in society.
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