Two-spirit people embody both genders
Research reveals strong cultural acceptance in the past
![LIVING HOPE: Identifying themselves as two-spirited people, Ed Harris [right], from Bella Bella, and Rodney Little Moustache, a Blackfoot First Nation member from the eastern Rocky Mountain slopes, have been living with HIV for many years. Both are front-line workers who have dedicated their lives to education and prevention of the spread of HIV among street-engaged and reserve-based first nations people.](http://www.prpeak.com/content/articles/2008/11/05/community/doc49112211b3dee778903898.jpg)
By Paul Galinski | reporter@prpeak.com
Published: Wednesday, November 5, 2008 4:19 PM CST
Research shows historically, diffuse gender identification was a celebrated component of first nations culture, according to a Powell River researcher. However, Western contact swayed the positive recognition and has contributed to two-spirited people being ostracized as homosexual people, he added.
Michael Thoms, who has a doctorate in history and teaches history at Vancouver Island University’s (VIU) Powell River campus, said one of his specialties is ethno-history, “which is a fancy way of saying specialized in fields of first nations cultural, ecological and social relationships,” he said.
“For 15 years I’ve been a researcher for a group called two-spirited people of the first nations, and also for the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network.
“One of the problems, as we know, is first nations people are marginalized in society,” Thoms said. “They experience issues with poverty, poor self-esteem, lack of advanced education and these kinds of things. One group within first nations society that is particularly vulnerable are those that we in the West would call gay or lesbian.”
Thoms said first nations people have a tradition that predates contact with the West.