Gendertone





In many indigenous cultures around the world, homosexual and transgender individuals are considered routine and are expected. Many Native American tribes formally recognize these homosexual and transgendered individuals in the role of the "two-spirit" person. Two-spirit transvestite and homosexual roles are known to have been recognized and honoured, at the present time or historically, in more than 150 different tribes. The “two-spirit” person is a man or woman who mixes gender roles by wearing clothes of the opposite sex, doing both male and female work, and often engaging in the same-sex relations with other members of the tribe. Two-spirit people are often shamans, performing religious or mediating functions. Their special status is thought to invest them with exceptional spiritual power, as a result of which they are both feared and respected.

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