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Course:CSIS200/2025/GAI and “Living the Spirit”: Making Indigenous Voices Heard on Gender and Sexuality in North America

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Introduction

The Gay American Indians (GAI) was an organization founded in San Francisco in 1975 by Randy Burns (Northern Paiute) and Barbara Cameron (Hunkpapa Lakota).[1] It was the first group in the United States dedicated to supporting Native American LGBTQ+ individuals.[1] Over the years, the organization organized community events, participated in activities, and fostered the publication of Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology, which explores Indigenous sexuality and gender systems in Native North America.[2] Through these efforts, GAI contributed to increased visibility, cultural preservation, and the empowerment of Indigenous LGBTQ+ communities.[1]

History

Sexuality and Gender Diversity among Indigenous Peoples in North America

Different Indigenous peoples in North America have diverse experiences, cultures, and histories of gender and sexuality. For example, among the Diné (Navajo), the term nàdleehé refers to “one who changes”; among the Cree, Aayahkwew describes individuals who are “neither man nor woman”; and among the Plains Cree, Iskwewak denotes women-centred identities, sometimes referring to those who walk beyond binary gender.[3]

A more detailed example can be seen in the life of Ma-Nee Chacaby, an Ojibwe-Cree lesbian writer and activist from Canada. When she was four years old, her grandmother told her that she was a two-spirit child, saying, “There’s two great spirits living inside of you. One is a female, one is a male”.[4] This personal experience reflects broader Cree beliefs and cultural principles, which emphasize the spiritual interconnectedness of humans, the land, and all living beings, the equal importance of every individual, and the necessity of living life in balance and harmony.[5] The Cree language does not distinguish between gendered pronouns, and their creation stories include beings who can change gender or form, demonstrating that gender and sexual diversity were historically recognized and accepted rather than rejected within their culture.[5]

[4]

European Colonization and the Suppression of Indigenous Gender and Sexual Diversity

Balboa casts the Indians accused of sodomy to be torn by dogs, engraving by Theodor de Bry from Americae pars quarta (1594), the fourth volume of America (Grands Voyages).

In 1513, during his expedition to the South Sea, the Spanish commander Vasco Núñez de Balboa led an iron-clad army across the Isthmus of Panama into the forested region of Quarequa, which was inhabited by the Coclé and Cueva peoples at the time.[6] Balboa reportedly observed Indigenous individuals wearing women’s clothing, accused them of engaging in same-sex acts, and ordered approximately forty to be killed by dogs—an event later depicted in Theodor de Bry’s 1594 engraving in Americae pars quarta.[6][7] Scholars argue that such acts were part of a broader “colonial project of gender,” in which European powers systematically imposed a binary understanding of gender and erased pre-existing Indigenous gender identities and sexualities.[8] European empires labeled non-conforming identities as “sodomites” or “evil,” using these accusations to justify violence and enforce colonial heterosexual norms, thereby marginalizing individuals who did not conform to the imposed binary framework and forcing them to hide or alter their gender and sexual expressions.[9] In this process, any identity or practice not serving the interests of the colonial state was denied or suppressed.[8]

Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology

Contributors: Gay American Indians & Will Roscoe (coordinating editor)

Within intersectional frameworks, aspects of identity such as race, class, gender, sexuality, age, and ability are mutually constitutive—people experience them simultaneously, and the significance of each is shaped by the others.[10] This perspective helps explain why Native LGBTQ+ individuals were often marginalized both within Native American communities and by broader LGBTQ+ movements.[10][1]

Gay American Indians celebrated their 35th anniversary at the 2010 San Francisco Pride Parade.

In the 1970s, Native American communities and LGBTQ+ groups were both fighting for their rights, while, as de Groot (2024) notes, gay liberationists “sometimes expressed racist attitudes and colonial standards of beauty,” and Red Power circles “tended to be homophobic and emphasized macho gender roles.”[11] To address this, Gay American Indians (GAI)—the first gay Indian organization in the United States—was founded in 1975 by Randy Burns and Barbara Cameron in San Francisco.[11] It is worth noting that the term “gay” at the time meant more or less homosexuality, regardless of gender or race.[12] GAI aimed to set up a safe place to meet the needs of the gay American Indian community and to provide emotional and social support, as well as to share their rich heritage as Indigenous Americans.[1]

“We've gone a long way in challenging double oppression and ending the isolation of gay Indians.” Randy Burns wrote in the preface to Living the Spirit.[1] He described the challenges of establishing GAI in such an adverse environment: During the initial organizing efforts in 1975, the local American Indian Center declined to post GAI’s flyers, claiming they might “offend” people.[1] At a subsequent American Indian Day event at a local university, GAI was asked to dismantle its booth because organizers said they “didn’t want any trouble.”[1]

Within a year of its founding, the group had approximately thirty members from about twenty different tribes and quickly grew to about 150 by the late 1970s.[13] They founded the Gay American Indian History Project in 1984 to collect their history, and it was published by the Journal of Homosexuality, making it available to a larger community.[1] In 1985, the organization celebrated its tenth anniversary, with nearly 600 nationwide members.[14]

At that time, leadership roles in gay communities in the United States continued to be dominated by white men, and minority tokenism was the norm.[1] To make their voices heard, GAI published Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology in 1988 to share their history and the challenges they faced.[1]

Will Roscoe, an influential LGBTQ+ activist, scholar, and author who had founded Montana’s first gay rights organization, Lambda, in 1975, volunteered with the History Project and served as the coordinating editor for Living the Spirit.[15]

What This Book Is About

“This book is not just about gay American Indians; it is by gay Indians. Over twenty different American Indian writers, men and women, represent tribes from every part of North America.” — Randy Burns[1]

Cover of Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology (via Internet Archive).

Structurally, Living the Spirit is divided into three parts, each serving a distinct purpose.[2] The first section “Artists, Healers, and Providers” documents historical heritage and introduces Indigenous sex/gender systems and cross-gender roles in Native North America.[2] It emphasizes that the systems and roles were rooted in social identity rather than sexual behavior, and the Western categories of “homosexuality” or “lesbianism” alone were never sufficient grounds for gender reclassification.[16] As Rodney Simard notes, “The essays, documents, and poetry assembled here make a convincing case for the normalcy of variations on sexual orientation, as most else, in Native cultures, while suggesting some provocative new approaches to gender study in whatever cultural context.”[17]

The second section, “Gay American Indians Today,” brings together the works of GAI members, including poetry, stories, anthologies, and oral accounts of their tribes’ cultures and traditions.[2] Through oral literature—myths, folktales, stories, poetry, and music—North American Indians express not only their worldview but their ideas about how things came to be the way they are.[18] These contributors also speak to their elders, who in turn “are speaking up, reaffirming traditional attitudes and putting older philosophies back into the thinking they were doing at that time”.[12] People from a wide range of tribes contribute their voices.[2] Rodney Simard characterizes the collection as a “politically oriented group of uneven literary quality.”[17]

The third section provides resources.[17] In addition to agency contacts, it includes a list of documented alternative gender roles in more than 135 tribes across North America.[17] This section also introduces the book’s contributors.[17] In the final notes, the anthology details collaborations with AIDS service providers and offers specific contact information for available services.[17]

Reviews:

"Living The Spirit is a compendium of embattled, passionate, tough, and bleeding testaments to the twin isolations and alienations of being an American Indian and homosexual in a Dominant Culture…"—Alfred Robinson[19]

"The anthology’s design…is one of strength, love of tradition, lightness, and joy. The psychological insight and lyric irony of Hulleah Tsinhnajinnie’s work is particularly notable…Patrick Mulvey’s photographs are likewise welcoming and enthralling."—Alfred Robinson[19]

"Living the Spirit is a very important weapon against the spectre of double invisibility that plagues minority lesbian and gay groups. It is both a lifeline and a jumping-off point for an endless amount of possibilities. Above all else, however, it teaches respect for a culture we are only beginning to understand."—Denise Ohio[20]

GAI Activities and Roles

In addition to establishing the Gay American Indian History Project, GAI undertook other roles and activities. Internally, one of their traditional roles was that of the “go-between”— facilitating communication between different groups.[1] Externally, GAI participated in various public events, including the 1978 Gay Freedom Day parade in San Francisco and multiple subsequent iterations of the event.[11][21]

Gay American Indians at the 2022 San Francisco Pride Parade

Addressing Community and Health Challenges

Historically, before European colonization in the 16th century, many Indigenous tribes in North America highly respected gay members. Colonization and the imposition of Christianity disrupted these social and cultural supports, eroding traditional practices.[22] As a result, many gay Native American men experienced alienation within their tribes due to internalized homophobia and heteronormative expectations.[23] Seeking belonging, they often turned to local gay communities, where bar culture increased their exposure to alcohol use, drug use, and HIV risk.[23] To address these challenges, GAI provided alcohol-free cultural, social, and ceremonial spaces, allowing members to participate in Indigenous traditions, gain community recognition, foster self-acceptance, and receive spiritual support—ultimately reducing substance abuse and other high-risk behaviors.[23]

In addition to these community-based challenges, GAI members faced a double oppression stemming from both their sexual orientation and Indigenous identity.[1] As Randy Burns notes in the preface of Living the Spirit, “As gay people, our health needs are not taken seriously by the government. As Indians, we often find that AIDS programs overlook important cultural differences and fail to reach many Indian people. Many agencies do not even have statistics on the Indians they serve, or they count us in the ‘other/unknown’ category.”[1] To address these systemic barriers, GAI worked to educate and train their own community about AIDS while also informing funding sources and service providers about the specific needs of Indigenous people.[1]

Beyond GAI

Beausejour 1990 image (via All Nations Two-Spirit Society). Dr. Myra Laramee, Beverly Little Thunder and Barbara Bruce, pictured at the International Gathering


Subsequently, many other organizations were established. By 1987, American Indian Gays and Lesbians (AIGL) was founded.[14] That year, AIGL hosted the first international gathering of gay and lesbian Native Americans, which drew more than 60 participants from both Canada and the United States.[14] By 1990, in an effort to adopt a more inclusive title, the gathering was known as the Third Annual Inter-tribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference.[14]

In North America, other organizations continued to emerge and hold events. For example, Indigenous Pride LA, founded in 2017, brings together community activists, educators, artists, and members of Indigenous communities who identify as Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+.[24]

More recently, on June 28, 2025, under the leadership of the Edmonton 2 Spirit Society (E2S), hundreds of people gathered at Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton for the city’s first powwow dedicated to the Two-Spirit community.[25] The event provided an inclusive space to celebrate Indigenous identity, resilience, and gender diversity, restore traditional gender roles within Indigenous communities, and create supportive environments for individuals through cultural, social, and health programs.[26]

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Burns, R. (1988). Preface. In W. Roscoe (Ed.), Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology (pp. 1–5). New York: St. Martin’s Press.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Roscoe, W. (Ed.). (1988). Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
  3. ↑ Wabanaki Two-Spirit Alliance. (n.d.). Understanding the term 'Two-Spirit'. https://w2sa.ca/two-spirit-library/understanding-the-term-two-spirit
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 OurStories eTextbook. (2018). Ma-Nee Chacaby talks about Two Spirit identities [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juzpocOX5ik
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Wilson, A. (2015). Our coming in stories: Cree identity, body sovereignty and gender self-determination. University of Manitoba Press.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Jesperson, J. (2024). Trans misogyny in the colonial archive: Re-membering trans feminine life and death in New Spain, 1604–1821. Gender & History, 36(1), 91–111. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0424.12733
  7. ↑ Theodor de Bry. (1594). Engraving depicting Vasco Núñez de Balboa ordering Indigenous people accused of sodomy to be torn apart by dogs [Digital image of page n205]. In Americae pars quarta. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/americaeparsqvar00benz/page/n205/mode/2up
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 O’Sullivan, S. (2021). The Colonial Project of Gender (and Everything Else). Genealogy, 5(3), 67. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy5030067
  9. ↑ Picq, M. L., & Tikuna, J. (n.d.). Indigenous sexualities: Resisting conquest and translation.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Kang, M., Lessard, D., Heston, L., & Nordmarken, S. (n.d.). Introduction to women, gender, and sexuality studies.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 de Groot, S. (2024, March 26). What Is Two-Spirit? Part One: Origins. Canadian Museum for Human Rights. https://humanrights.ca/story/what-two-spirit-part-one-origins
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Pahe, E. (1988). Speaking Up. In W. Roscoe (Ed.), Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology (pp. 106–114). New York: St. Martin’s Press.
  13. ↑ EBSCO. (n.d.). Gay American Indians founded. EBSCO Research Starters. https://www.ebsco.com/research‑starters/social‑sciences-and-humanities/gay-american-indians-founded
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 All Nations Two‑Spirit Society. (n.d.). Two-Spirit Era. https://antss.co/two-spirit-era/
  15. ↑ Will Roscoe. (n.d.). About Will Roscoe. willsWorld. https://willsworld.org/about-will-roscoe
  16. ↑ Midnight Sun. (1988). Sex/Gender Systems in Native North America. In W. Roscoe (Ed.), Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology (pp. 32–47). New York: St. Martin’s Press.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 Simard, R. (1991). [Review of Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology, by W. Roscoe]. Studies in American Indian Literatures, 3(4), 67–70. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20736570
  18. ↑ Devereux, G. (1937). Institutionalized homosexuality of the Mohave Indians. Human Biology, 7, 478–527.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Robinson, A. (1989). Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology. American Indian Culture and Research Journal. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/43c5p627
  20. ↑ Ohio, D. (1988). The Finer Grain. Tallahassee, FL: Naiad Press.
  21. ↑ Duncan, G. (2025, November 18). Gay American Indians to march in SF Pride Parade to celebrate 49 years of Indigenous resistance. Alameda Native History Project. https://nativehistoryproject.org/post/alameda-native-history-project/gay-american-indians-march-in-sf-pride-parade-to-celebrate-49-years-of-indigenous-resistance/
  22. ↑ Jolivette, A., & Xwi7xwa Collection. (2016). Indian blood: HIV and colonial trauma in San Francisco's Two-Spirit community. University of Washington Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780295998497
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Gilley, B. J., & Co-Cké, J. H. (2005). Cultural Investment: Providing Opportunities to Reduce Risky Behavior Among Gay American Indian Males. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 37(3), 293–298. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2005.10400522
  24. ↑ Indigenous Pride LA. (n.d.). About Us. https://www.indigenouspridela.org/about-us
  25. ↑ Amato, A. (2025, June 28). ‘Celebrated for who they are’: Hundreds gather for first Two-Spirit Powwow. CTV News Edmonton. https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/article/celebrated-for-who-they-are-hu ndreds-gather-for-first-two-spirit-powwow/
  26. ↑ Amato, A. (2025, June 28). ‘Celebrated for who they are’: Hundreds gather for first Two-Spirit Powwow. CTV News Edmonton. https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/article/celebrated-for-who-they-are-hu ndreds-gather-for-first-two-spirit-powwow/

Bio

Rowan Jia is an undergraduate arts student at the University of British Columbia, located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəyəm (Musqueam) people. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she is particularly interested in how different communities express their voices around gender and sexuality. For this project, she examined the founding of Gay American Indians (GAI) and the anthology Living the Spirit, engaging with Indigenous perspectives on gender and sexuality in a way that respects cultural knowledge boundaries.

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