A Native American “trans femme scholar,” social media influencer, and advocate recently spoke at the University of Illinois on the evils of colonialism and the concept of the indigenous “two-spirit.”<\/p>\n
Charlie Am\u00e1y\u00e1 Scott (<\/em>pictured)<\/em>, a PhD student at the University of Denver whose dissertation uses<\/a> “a blend of […] photography and letter writing to really get Native students […] to sort of describe or portray or represent to us what settler colonialism is,” told her audience that “two-spirit” actually has “no specific meaning.”<\/p>\n \u201cThe way that I have described two-spirit to people is that it\u2019s really meant to be a contemporary movement to communicate and describe possibilities of who we were, of who we are, of what we are, of who we will be,\u201d Scott said according to\u00a0The Daily Illini<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Scott said that before European colonization, Native Americans had “diverse beliefs about gender” and the indigenous “gender-nonconforming” were “highly respected.”<\/p>\n Europeans introduced homophobia and the gender binary when they forced the Indigenous to culturally assimilate, Scott added.<\/p>\n \u201cHow we understand what it means to be a man and woman is really rooted in this sort of history of colonization,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so the gender and sexuality of Indigenous peoples were considered savage, considered primitive.\u201d<\/p>\n MORE:<\/strong> Science professor job opening limited to only women, trans, non-binary or two-spirit folk<\/a><\/p>\n From the story<\/a>:<\/p>\n This stigmatization, homophobia and pressures of conforming to gender norms continue to this day even in Indigenous communities, according to Scott.<\/p>\n Scott explained the Navajo Nation only recognizes marriage between a man and a woman, prohibiting same-sex marriage since 2005.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, marriage equality is not recognized on several nations,\u201d Scott said. \u201cAs much as I love tribal sovereignty, unfortunately, tribal sovereignty is the reason that the Navajo Nation does not recognize this marriage between two people of different genders.\u201d …<\/p>\n When Scott was exploring and expressing their gender identity, their mother had a difficult time accepting their journey.<\/p>\n \u201cWe argued about my transness,\u201d Scott said. \u201cShe didn\u2019t understand why my English pronouns being they\/them were so important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n It was later discovered their mother was afraid for Scott\u2019s life and believed it would\u2019ve been dangerous living and identifying as transgender.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Last year, Scott told NBC News<\/a>\u00a0that “trans misogyny, anti-trans rhetoric and anti-queerness” all have origins “in the violence of settler colonialism [and] heteropatriarchy.”<\/p>\n Scott and a two-spirit Native American peer contributed the chapter \u201cIn the Spirit of Relation and Kinship: Supporting Indigenous Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ Relatives\u201d to the recent book “Developments Beyond the Asterisks: New Scholarship and Frameworks for Understanding Native Students in Higher Education.”<\/p>\n MORE:<\/strong> FemmeFest and Intersectional Feminists continue the \u2018fight for equality\u2019 at OSU<\/a><\/p>\n IMAGE: Young Invincibles\/X<\/p>\n