gaywrites:

Before Europeans invaded the Americas, also known as Turtle Island, in 1492, the land was host to a breathtaking diversity of Indigenous peoples and cultures. These cultures had their own traditions for and conceptions of gender and sexuality. Terms like Two-Spirit are modern linguistic attempts to harken back to a more Indigenous imagining of gender.

European colonization brought with it a hierarchy that placed both Indigenous traditions and LGBTQ+ people outside the acceptable norms of civil society. But Native Americans and queer people endured. To celebrate that resistance, here are eight LGBTQ+ Native Americans who are changing the world for the better.

by John Paul Brammer for Them

8 LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit Native Americans Changing the World