10/12/2026
Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and we want to honor the Two-Spirit people whose history runs far deeper than the modern LGBTQ+ movement.
Long before words like “gay,” “trans,” or “queer” existed, many Indigenous nations across what is now North America recognized people who carried both masculine and feminine spirits. Each nation had its own name and its own understanding of these roles. In many communities they were healers, mediators, matchmakers, name-givers, and keepers of ceremony. Colonization, boarding schools, and forced conversion tried to erase them, and in many places nearly did.
“Two-Spirit” was chosen in 1990 at an Indigenous LGBTQ+ gathering in Winnipeg as a shared, Native-led umbrella term so that Indigenous people could name themselves on their own terms. It is specific to Indigenous people, and it is why you see the 2S in 2SLGBTQ+.
Drag in New York happens on Haudenosaunee, Lenape, and other Native lands. The six nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora) are the original stewards of much of the land our shows are performed on. Today we honor Two-Spirit artists and elders, past and present, and the communities working to reclaim what was taken.
If you want to learn more or give directly, look up the Two-Spirit organizations and Native-led groups in your area, and listen to Two-Spirit people telling their own stories.
