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Just finished a fairly exhaustive study on the native North American Indian berdache, or transsexuals of those days, for my book. For those of you academically inclined...
Berdache were recognized and accepted in virtually all NA Indian tribes. They often cross-dressed, behaved like women, spoke like women, and married men. Basically, Ladyboys. They married men, and those men were NOT considered homosexual, because berdache were considered to be neither male nor female but having "two spirits"; more precisely, the best of both worlds, literally, having skills of both men and women.
Their primary difference with LBs was that they were also viewed as having spiritual skills, and were used in healing ceremonies, births, deaths, and sometimes held an elevated status in tribes.
The lovely Christian European explorers forced the Indians to stop the practice, starting with a Spanish explorer, de Vaca, in about 1540, in the "slaughter of the berdache". The last berdache disappeared in about the 1940s or so.
Today, native Indians use the term Two-Spirit to refer to gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transsexual (and berdache). If you search the internet for berdache or two-spirit you'll find thousands of references.
They are interesting because on the same soil that now has no tolerance for gender benders, and violence is common against them (us), the native Indians showed a progressive society that did just the opposite. One Crow elder said, "We don't throw away our people like the white man. Everyone has a place."
Ironically, some of the first berdache were discovered in Texas. It is ironic, because that is George Bush's home state. He of course is violently against same sex marriage. Likely, berdache lived on or near his ranch, as they were prevalant in all tribes.
Berdache were recognized and accepted in virtually all NA Indian tribes. They often cross-dressed, behaved like women, spoke like women, and married men. Basically, Ladyboys. They married men, and those men were NOT considered homosexual, because berdache were considered to be neither male nor female but having "two spirits"; more precisely, the best of both worlds, literally, having skills of both men and women.
Their primary difference with LBs was that they were also viewed as having spiritual skills, and were used in healing ceremonies, births, deaths, and sometimes held an elevated status in tribes.
The lovely Christian European explorers forced the Indians to stop the practice, starting with a Spanish explorer, de Vaca, in about 1540, in the "slaughter of the berdache". The last berdache disappeared in about the 1940s or so.
Today, native Indians use the term Two-Spirit to refer to gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transsexual (and berdache). If you search the internet for berdache or two-spirit you'll find thousands of references.
They are interesting because on the same soil that now has no tolerance for gender benders, and violence is common against them (us), the native Indians showed a progressive society that did just the opposite. One Crow elder said, "We don't throw away our people like the white man. Everyone has a place."
Ironically, some of the first berdache were discovered in Texas. It is ironic, because that is George Bush's home state. He of course is violently against same sex marriage. Likely, berdache lived on or near his ranch, as they were prevalant in all tribes.
Thanks for bringing this up, mate! The Berdache are actually a very interesting chapter in TS (and US) history.
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