TWO-SPIRIT NEWSTwo-Spirit & Native LGBTQ+ Center for Equity

Advocacy • Education • Healing • Community

HONORING WHO WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN

October brings together several important opportunities for reflection: Indigenous Peoples’ Day, LGBTQ+ History Month, and Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

For Two-Spirit and Native LGBTQ+ people, these observances are connected.

Our histories did not begin with colonization. Our identities did not begin with the modern LGBTQ+ movement. Across generations, Indigenous people have carried diverse understandings of gender, sexuality, family, responsibility, and belonging.

Colonization attempted to erase many of those traditions through forced assimilation, Christianity, boarding schools, violence, and the imposition of Western gender roles.

And still—we are here.

This October, the Two-Spirit & Native LGBTQ+ Center for Equity honors the people who kept our traditions alive, those reclaiming them today, and the generations who will come after us.

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Drag the Vote:

 

Indigi-Power 4

 

Generations

We are coming to cities to spread awareness to vote. 

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INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY

Monday, October 12, 2026

Indigenous Peoples’ Day is more than an alternative to Columbus Day.

It is an opportunity to tell the truth about this land and celebrate the continued presence, sovereignty, cultures, languages, and resilience of Indigenous peoples.

For Two-Spirit people, it is also a reminder that decolonization includes reclaiming Indigenous understandings of gender and sexuality.

Two-Spirit people are not a new phenomenon.

We have always been here.

Our histories may have been interrupted, hidden, or deliberately erased—but they were never completely destroyed.

This Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we encourage our relatives and allies to:

• Learn whose ancestral homelands you live on.
• Support Native-led organizations and businesses.
• Learn about the contemporary Nations in your region.
• Challenge stereotypes about Indigenous peoples.
• Include Two-Spirit people when talking about Indigenous history.
• Remember that Native people are not simply part of America's past—we are part of its present and future.

LGBTQ+ HISTORY MONTH

Two-Spirit History Is Indigenous History

October is LGBTQ+ History Month, but Two-Spirit history cannot simply be placed inside a Western LGBTQ+ timeline.

Long before terms such as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer existed, Indigenous Nations had their own languages, teachings, social roles, and understandings surrounding gender and relationships.

Those traditions differed from Nation to Nation.

The contemporary term Two-Spirit emerged in 1990 during an Indigenous LGBTQ+ gathering in Winnipeg as a way for some Native people to describe identities and experiences rooted at the intersection of Indigenous culture, gender, sexuality, and spirituality.

Two-Spirit is not another word for LGBTQ+, and it is not a universal identity for every Native LGBTQ+ person.

It belongs within Indigenous communities.

Our work today is not about recreating a romanticized past. It is about helping our communities recover knowledge, strengthen relationships between generations, and create a future where Two-Spirit and Native LGBTQ+ people can live fully and safely within our cultures.

COMMUNITY CARE IS VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Two-Spirit and Native LGBTQ+ people can experience violence at the intersections of racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, poverty, isolation, and historical trauma.

Violence prevention therefore requires more than responding after harm occurs.

It means creating communities where people are connected, supported, believed, and valued.

It means building healthy relationships.

It means teaching consent.

It means supporting survivors without judgment.

It means challenging the normalization of violence.

And it means making sure Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ relatives know that they belong in our families, ceremonies, organizations, and communities.

Belonging can be an act of violence prevention.

The Center remains committed to developing culturally grounded resources, training, advocacy, and partnerships that strengthen safety for Two-Spirit and Native LGBTQ+ people.

FROM THE CENTER

Building Equity Through Advocacy, Education & Healing

The Two-Spirit & Native LGBTQ+ Center for Equity continues our work toward a future where Two-Spirit and Native LGBTQ+ people have the resources, visibility, protection, and community support necessary to thrive.

Our work focuses on:

Advocacy
Elevating Two-Spirit and Native LGBTQ+ voices in conversations about equity, violence prevention, public policy, and Indigenous self-determination.

Education & Training
Helping organizations, service providers, and communities better understand Two-Spirit identities, histories, contemporary experiences, and culturally responsive practices.

Resource Building
Developing tools and information created with the needs of Two-Spirit and Native LGBTQ+ communities in mind.

Healing & Cultural Reclamation
Supporting efforts that reconnect Two-Spirit people with culture, community, identity, and one another.

Our goal is not simply inclusion within existing systems.

We are working toward restoring balance by creating systems in which our people can belong without having to leave any part of themselves at the door.

A QUESTION FOR OUR COMMUNITY

What does belonging look like to you?

Is it being welcomed home?

Dancing at a powwow?

Hearing your language?

Being called Aunty or Uncle?

Seeing another Two-Spirit person across the room?

Having an Elder recognize who you are?

Being able to bring your partner home?

Or simply knowing you don't have to explain yourself?

This month, we invite our community to think about the places where you experience belonging—and how we can create more of those places for one another.

SUPPORT TWO-SPIRIT FUTURES

Our work is possible because people believe that Two-Spirit and Native LGBTQ+ communities deserve more than survival.

We deserve safety.
We deserve joy.
We deserve culture.
We deserve community.
We deserve a future.

Whether you support the Center by sharing our resources, attending a training, partnering with us, making a contribution, or simply starting a conversation in your own community, you are helping build that future.

LOOKING AHEAD

As we move toward the end of 2026, the Center is continuing to strengthen partnerships, develop resources, expand educational opportunities, and build the foundation for our work in 2027.

We look forward to sharing more with you in the months ahead.

Until then, take care of yourselves—and take care of one another.

In community,

Two-Spirit & Native LGBTQ+ Center for Equity

Restoring balance. Reclaiming identity. Building equity.

STAY CONNECTED

Follow the Two-Spirit & Native LGBTQ+ Center for Equity for community news, resources, educational opportunities, advocacy updates, and upcoming events.

Two-Spirit & Native LGBTQ+ Center for Equity
Advocacy • Resources • Violence Prevention • Healing