Laurel Morales, NPR; LGBT Navajos Discover Unexpected Champions: Their Grandparents
""When I came out to my family, my mother of course took it the hardest. But my grandparents didn't," says Alray Nelson, a Navajo LGBT rights activist.
"We
are seeing clearly the aftereffects of what colonialism can look like
and how it really shifted our values as Navajo people," Nelson says.
"Whereas at the time, if you were LGBTQ and growing up in Navajo
traditional families, families celebrated that fact. They said that we
were sacred. They said that we had sacred roles."
But returning to understandings that predate colonialism has helped
the families of LGBT Navajos. Traditionalists believe that the "two
spirited," as they're sometimes called, are powerful and that not all
humans can be classified as male or female.
Navajo historian Jennifer Denetdale says the Diné creation story includes a nádleehí."
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