8 Two-Spirit Artists, Activists, and Healers Showing the World Queerness is Indigenous

As with most civil rights movements, LGBTQ+ organizers, healers, and artists have always been at the forefront of the fight for Native sovereignty. Two-Spirit people, in particular, have historically played integral spiritual and ceremonial leadership roles in Indigenous communities across Turtle Island, Abya Yala, and beyond.

“Two-Spirit,” (also referred to as 2Spirit, 2S, and Two Spirit) is an umbrella term used to describe the array of gender-variant identities specific to Indigenous nations. While the term “Two-Spirit” was popularized in the 1990s in pan-Native organizing spaces, many Indigenous nations have always had their own conceptions of gender and sexuality that differ from Western binary modes of thinking.

Beyond functioning as an identity label in the Western sense, Two-Spirit people often hold sacred healing, spiritual, and ceremonial roles in their communities. But centuries of European colonization decimated this knowledge for many Indigenous nations, as gender-variant people were outlawed and targeted.

After decades of keeping traditions alive in secret, Two-Spirit people are now organizing in the public eye and fighting back, from protecting the land to raising awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S), to creating art that illustrates their resistance. Read on for a list of Two-Spirit healers, artists, and organizers spreading wisdom, imagining an Indigequeer future, and demanding Land Back.

Nenookaasi Ogichidaa (she/they)

Nenookaasi Ogichidaa is a Two-Spirit Afro-Anishinaabe powwow dancer and educator based in Toronto.

As a creator and dancer, Ogichidaa uses performance art as a tool of empowerment. Because Afro-Indigenous people have been historically erased in many Native spaces, Ogichidaa works to bring visibility to Black Indigenous people.

“Folks would ask, ‘How are you native?’ I would say, ‘My left toe is native.’ I’m tired of explaining and going through my genealogy tree,” they tell HuffPost. “We know a lot about slavery, we know a lot about Indigenous genocide and colonization. But we don’t talk about how they merge with each other. Through the Americas, across Turtle Island, there’s Black Indigenous people. It’s [hardly ever] talked about.”

You can find their work on platforms such as Instagram.

Cleopatra TataBele (they/she)

Cleopatra TataBele is a Two-Spirit AfroTaino artist, content creator, powwow dancer, and educator. Through their Indigenous Caribbean educational space, Abuela Taught Me, they educate people on AfroTaino medicine, culture, and history and provide self-healing tools to their communities. In their community work, TataBele facilitates workshops, curates educational sessions, and provides consultation services that center Black and brown healing and ancestral practices.

Their work can be found on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.

Sean Snyder (they/them) and Adrian Stevens (he/they)

Sean Snyder and Adrian Matthias Stevens are an Indigenous Two-Spirit power couple dancing at powwows across Turtle Island. Snyder (Northern Ute, Shoshone-Bannock, and San Carlos Apache) and Stevens (Navajo and Southern Ute) have been together for nine years, during which they’ve competed alongside each other at traditional dance competitions.

“Powwow has always kept my culture relevant in my day-to-day life,” Stevens told Salt Lake City Weekly.

As a Two-Spirit couple, dancing and creating regalia together isn’t just important for Snyder and Stevens. They feel a great sense of responsibility for uplifting other Two-Spirit Indigequeer people.

You can see them dancing on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube.

Geo Soctomah Neptune (she/they)

Geo Soctomah Neptune is an Indigenous Passamaquoddy master basket weaver, drag performer, and model. As a Two-Spirit creator, Neptune works with Passamaquoddy and other Wabanaki youth to preserve cultural arts practices by teaching basket weaving across Maine. In addition to their art, Neptune’s work has extended into the political sphere, after becoming the first openly Two-Spirit person to be elected into public office in Maine in 2020. They continue to spread awareness about political and social issues impacting Indigenous people through their activism.

“I care for our culture very deeply, and see the preservation of our language and other traditions for future generations as being my first priority,” Neptune said during their campaign. “Confidence in one’s cultural identity translates to confidence in life.”

You can find their work on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Kairyn Potts (he/him)

Kairyn Potts is a Two-Spirit Winkte man, Indigenous youth advocate, comedian, and actor from the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation. He creates content raising awareness about Indigenous mental health and Two-Spirit identity on platforms like TikTok. Potts also cohosts a Snapchat series focusing on Indigenous identity and Gen Z called Reclaim(ed) with Marika Sila.

As a Native creator uplifting Indigenous visibility, Potts says he takes pride in his role.

“The biggest teaching that I got as a two-spirit person is that I'm somebody who builds community,” Potts tells As It Happens host Nil Köksal. “I'm one of those inbetweeners, as they say — somebody who kind of bridges gaps and brings people together. And I really take that seriously.”

Scott Wabano (they/he)

Scott Wabano is a Two-Spirit, Eeyou and Swampy Cree model, stylist, and fashion designer from the Cree Nation of Waskaganish in Eeyou Istchee.

As a designer, Wabano is using their platform and fashion brand, Wabano, to uplift Indigenous creative practices and celebrateIndigequeer people in their community.

As a Niishuudehiiyuu person, roughly translated from Eeyou Cree to mean a person with two hearts, Wabano knows their role as a Two-Spirit person in their communities is sacred. “I feel I have a role in my community to ensure that Two-Spirit youth don’t feel the need to sacrifice their Indigeneity or their queerness to achieve their dreams,” they tell Fashion Magazine.

You can follow them on platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Bobby Sanchez (she/they)

Bobby Sanchez is an Indigenous Quechua Wari Two-Spirit singer, performer, and slam poet. Known best for her song “Quechua 101 Land Back Please” — which quickly turned into an anthem of Indigenous solidarity across TikTok — Sanchez creates art focusing on the intersection of indigeneity, queerness, and decolonization.

As a Two-Spirit trans woman, much of Sanchez’s work grapples with colonization’s impact on Indigenous gender variance and wisdom. Featured on her latest EP “Prophecy,” Sanchez’s song “t4t (4s)” uplifts trans love and the beauty of Two-Spirit people.

In addition to her music, Sanchez sells her paintings, runs writer’s workshops, and models. You can support her work and follow her on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Soundcloud, and Spotify.

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