2SLGBTQ+: We’re bringing Two Spirit to the front!
ID: A black and white photo of two Two Spirit people embracing each other and smiling to the left. A large dream catcher tattoo is visible on the person to the left, and the Two Spirit pride flag is visible on the person to the right’s shirt. To the right is a blue background with the Freedom Oklahoma logo and white text that reads “2SLGBTQ+ TWO SPIRIT TO THE FRONT” and “11.22.2021.” A vertical zig-zag shape breaks up the two sides of the image.
Why we’re committed to decolonizing our work, and continuing intentional conversations about Two Spirit people (and how you can help)
November 22, 2021
In October of 2020, we told you that our community acronym was expanding to include Two Spirit, abbreviated 2S, an intentionally chosen pan-Indigenous term used to capture the Indigenous people who have always existed beyond colonized binaries of gender and sexuality. It is a term representative of the ways in which colonization has continually disrupted the language and practices for each tribe’s own Two Spirit traditions, and one that represents the work being done across intertribal spaces and within tribal communities to decolonize gender and sexuality.
Expanding our acronym was intentional, and, as we continue to learn and grow in this work, going forward we’ll be using the acronym 2SLGBTQ+. At Freedom Oklahoma, we believe in using our power, privilege, and platform to lift up and center Indigenous, Black, and People of Color’s lives, safety, well-being, advocacy, and legacies. And frankly, this change is one that has taken too long. Our organizational responsibility working in white, settler systems is to dismantle ongoing systemic violence within our own community, within our work, within Oklahoma, across Indian Country*, and beyond.
If you find yourself uncomfortable in stumbling over the arrangement of the acronym or ask yourself why it matters, know that there’s power in our language and word choice. Using 2SLGBTQ+ invites questions, it encourages learning, and it welcomes conversations. Language changes and evolves, and we believe in doing that work in a way that is expansive and welcoming. We’re making this change not to be gatekeepers, but to be partners in a community that offers the ability to thrive to all 2SLGBTQ+ people. And to do that, we must be more fully inclusive of our Indigenous communities.
As we have named before, 2SLGBTQ+ people are no strangers to exclusion. We live and operate in systems that were never designed to include us. And that’s precisely why we’re engaging in this deliberate, active step towards inclusion in our language and our work now. Two Spirit people have always been on this land. They have fought oppression since the first colonizers landed here. When we make space to include and learn from Two Spirit folks, we’re all better for it.
Our office is headquartered on occupied land that was historically cared for by Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo), 𐓏𐓘𐓻𐓘𐓻𐓟 𐒻𐓟 (Osage), Gáuigú (Kiowa), Wichita, and Nʉmʉnʉʉ (Comanche) people. Our work happens within a state that is home to 39 tribes who operate across an expansive set of reservations, sovereign tribal governments, and intertribal partnerships. Yet, at every level of government and within our organization, we have failed to appropriately extend to Indigenous and Two Spirit people in Oklahoma the respect deserved. Last year we named that by not explicitly including Two Spirit people, we contributed within our organization to the perpetuation of colonialism. We said we understood. We committed to doing more. And part of that work is moving 2S to the front.
What can you do to help?
Sign on to our pledge to bring 2S forward, and share your why on social media.
If you are not a Two Spirit person, seek out resources to continue to educate yourself on Two Spirit people, both in a historical and contemporary context.
Ask organizations, institutions, providers, and people to make the commitment to using the 2SLGBTQ+ acronym.
Practice! We know changing language is a matter of practice--take the opportunity to use 2SLGBTQ+ in conversations, make the effort to educate friends and other community members to use it as well.
We know that words are just the beginning. We thank our Two Spirit communities for education and accountability, and 2SLGBTQ+ folks and Freedom Oklahoma supporters to join us on this journey toward a community that is intentionally for us all.