Long before the emergence of lesbian and gay Native writing, the two-spirit tradition captured the imagination of non-Indian writers. Two of the most frequently cited passages from the genre of "contact literature" include George Catlin's account of the "Dance to the Berdashe" (in Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians [1841]) and John Tanner's description of the two-spirit Ozaw-wen-dib's attempt to seduce him in his A Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner (1830).

The influence of accounts like these is apparent in the portrayal of Little Horse, a Cheyenne hemaneh, in Thomas Berger's Little Big Man (1964) and in its subsequent screenplay (1970). (By contrast, over 20 years later, Kevin Costner's film epic, Dances with Wolves, although acclaimed for its authenticity, made no mention of the Lakota winkte tradition.)

Sponsor Message.

In a somewhat different genre is Richard Amory's Song of the Loon series. These highly romanticized erotic Westerns are fondly remembered by gay men who discovered them in the 1960s. More recently, male two-spirit characters appear in Tom Spanbauer's The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon (1991) and William Henderson's Native (1993).

At least two nongay Native writers have also included two-spirit or gay characters in their work, Gerald Vizenor (Heirs of Columbus [1991]) and Leslie Marmon Silko (Almanac of the Dead [1991]).

Non-Indian Writers and the Female Two-Spirit Tradition

Whereas male two-spirits evoked dismay and disgust on the part of most white frontiersmen, the desire of females to enter the roles and occupations of men struck them as both romantic and tragic. Portrayals of female two-spirits appear in American literature as early as the 1840s with the novels of Emerson Bennett (The Prairie Flower; or, Adventures in the Far West [ca 1850] and Leni Leoti; or, Adventures in the Far West [1851]).

Other treatments include James Beckwourth's account of "Pine Leaf" (1931), probably based on the true story of Woman Chief; James Willard Schultz's Running Eagle (1919), based on an actual Blackfeet female warrior; and Frederick Manfred's torrid The Manly-Hearted Woman (1975).

Conclusion

The future of Native North American lesbian and gay writing is a bright one. The writers mentioned here appear in anthologies and collections with growing frequency. The first full-length autobiography, by Canadian Kevin White, was published in 1993, and the first novel by a lesbian or gay Native author with gay characters is likely to appear soon. Already a second anthology by and about lesbian and gay Native people, The Basket and the Bow, edited by Sheila Wahsquonaikezhik and Gilbert Deschamps, is scheduled for publication.

Unlike so many contemporary lesbian and gay writers, white and nonwhite, Native gay writers are not haunted by the sense of having no past and no social contribution to make. By connecting to the heritage of the two-spirit tradition, an important part of the development of most of the writers discussed here, lesbian and gay Native writers are forging a unique vision of what it means to be gay.

In contrast to Euro-American gay literature where the themes of alienation and marginalization are so common, gay and lesbian Native writers promise a literature of affirmation, grounded in a visionary tradition with deep historical roots.

In North American Indian cultures, mixed-gender individuals were depicted in a variety of art forms and, in many tribes, were themselves among the most accomplished artists of their communities.

A social role for individuals who crossed or mixed male and female characteristics was one of the most widely distributed institutions of native North America.

Of mixed Native American, Scottish, and Lebanese heritage, American poet and literary scholar Paula Gunn Allen reinterprets the historic and mythic beliefs of Native Americans from a twentieth-century lesbian-feminist perspective.

American Latina lesbian editor and writer Gloria Anzaldúa connected racism and homophobia to posit a political queerness that interconnects with all struggles against oppression.

Both male and female berdaches (or two-spirit persons), common among Native American tribal cultures, were characterized by gender variation sanctioned by supernatural dreams and visions.

Langston Hughes, whose literary legacy is enormous and varied, was closeted, but homosexuality was an important influence on his literary imagination, and many of his poems may be read as gay texts.

Maurice Kenny combines a gay and Native American consciousness to create poetry that is located in multiple cultures.

In her own works, Cherríe Moraga defines her experience as a Chicana lesbian; and in her capacity as editor/publisher, she provides a forum for traditionally silenced lesbians of color.

Novelist Tom Spanbauer probes the darker undercurrents of sexuality, race, and violence while simultaneously using his unique prose style to meditate on and question received notions of time, subjectivity, and history.