Within hours of returning to power Monday, United States President Donald Trump issued a stunningly broad executive order that seeks to dismantle crucial protections for transgender people and denies the validity of gender identity itself.
The order states that the US government will recognize only two sexes, male and female, that are fixed at birth, and orders government agencies to end all reference to and consideration of a person’s gender identity. This sweeping redefinition threatens federal programs used by transgender people and impacts federal documentation such as passports, which can currently reflect the gender identity of transgender and nonbinary people.
The order also pledges to withhold federal funding from any programs that promote “gender ideology,” echoing language used by right-wing movements across Europe and Latin America to oppose not only recognition of transgender people but broader sexual and reproductive rights.
Worryingly, it instructs agencies to house transgender people in detention according to their sex assigned at birth, putting them at extreme risk of physical and sexual violence, and to withhold gender-affirming care in prisons, which can amount to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment under international law. The order further instructs the Department of Justice to help agencies reinforce sex-segregated spaces that exclude transgender people, potentially excluding transgender individuals from everyday facilities like bathrooms but also from crucial services like shelters for those facing homelessness and intimate partner violence.
Some of the order’s provisions will face legal challenges, as they seem to squarely conflict with federal law and judicial precedent. However, the order’s scope underscores the administration’s intention to erase transgender people from public life and strip them of basic protections.
In 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Committee urged the US to address persistently high rates of discrimination and violence against transgender people. Instead, these actions are poised to exacerbate this mistreatment.
In this increasingly hostile environment, lawmakers across the political spectrum should reaffirm that transgender people have the right to live free from discrimination and work to enshrine that basic principle into lasting and meaningful protections.
Ecuador’s Constitutional Court recently made public a ruling upholding the rights of a transgender girl whose private school in Santa Elena failed to support her during her gender transition. The court ordered comprehensive remedies after finding that the school discriminated against the girl, failed to act in accordance with her best interests, and violated a wide range of other rights, including her right to education.
In its ruling, the court refers to the girl as C.L.A.G in order to protect her identity. In 2017, C.L.A.G.’s parents sought the school’s support, requesting psychosocial assistance and gender diversity training for the school’s staff. While initially cooperative, the school later failed to consistently use her preferred name, refused her access to the girls’ bathroom, required her to wear the boys’ uniform, and asked her parents to produce a diagnosis of gender dysphoria or “transsexuality.”
The girl’s parents turned to the District of Education, which issued recommendations to the school to better accommodate her gender identity. The school rejected them, and C.L.A.G’s parents turned to the courts. After receiving unfavorable decisions from lower courts, the parents filed an appeal before the Constitutional Court.
Among its remedies, the court ordered the Ministry of Education and other key authorities to develop and disseminate a mandatory protocol for respecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans children in schools within six months. The protocol must include guidelines on the use of a child’s preferred name, dress, and bathroom use consistent with their gender.
This ruling comes as Ecuador struggles to fully implement remedies ordered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Paola Guzmán Albarracín v. Ecuador to prevent school-related sexual and gender-based violence. The Ministry of Education’s strategy on comprehensive sexuality education – a cornerstone of its prevention efforts – aims to equip students with essential information on topics such as puberty, healthy relationships, and gender identity. It has faced resistance from some teachers and officials, as well as groups that rail against so-called gender ideology.
In 2024, the Ministry of Education caved in to external pressure and temporarily removed materials from its “Sexualipedia” platform, which included age-appropriate content on gender identity. Some content has been restored, but episodes on gender identity remain offline, awaiting “scientific validation.”
C.L.A.G.’s case underscores the need for clear policies to ensure all students, including trans children, can access their right to education without discrimination. Ecuador should develop and implement the protocols ordered by the court, ensuring students receive accurate, inclusive information on gender identity. This will have an important impact on the safety and dignity of countless students and Ecuadoran society.
Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (Juridicción Especial para la Paz, JEP) has charged six former leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia,FARC) guerrillas with war crimes for the forced recruitment and use of 18,677 children from 1971 to 2016. In addition to forced recruitment, the charges encompass torture, killings, reproductive and sexual violence, and targeted violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) children.
The JEP, a transitional justice mechanism created by the 2016 Peace Accordsbetween the Colombian government and the FARC, is tasked with trying crimes, including crimes under international law and grave human rights violations, committed during Colombia’s armed conflict.
“Macro-case” 07 before the JEP is focused on child recruitment and involves 9,854 victims, including 8,903 who belong to five indigenous communities and 951 others, including survivors and families who continue the search for missing recruited children.
The JEP’s Chamber of Recognition of Truth charged the former FARC leaders with heinous crimes, including the mistreatment, torture, and homicide of recruited children; reproductive violence affecting recruited girls; and sexual violence against recruited boys and girls, including torture, rape, and sexual slavery.
In a historic first under a transitional justice mechanism, the chamber also charged the former leaders with violence against recruited boys and girls based on prejudice related to the children’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. The chamber found that several LGBT girls and boys “suffered sexual violence and abuse as a way of ‘correcting’ or ‘punishing’ them.” This unprecedented recognition of violence targeted against LGBT children sets a new standard for addressing discrimination as an element of human rights abuses in conflict.
These indictments go a long way in addressing the impunity that has long characterized Colombia’s armed conflict. The JEP should now make sure that defendants are fairly prosecuted and, if found guilty, appropriately punished for their crimes.
Few older Africans participate openly in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights movement. But Francisca Ferraz, 53, known as “Yaa Sissi,” aims to change that.
Yaa Sissi, who lives in Geneva, Switzerland, is a pioneering voice in her community. Born in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, to a Portuguese father and a Congolese mother, Yaa Sissi moved to Geneva in 2008, where she raised her two daughters, now 25 and 21.
There, early in 2023, she founded Afro LGBT, Geneva’s first LGBT rights association focused on those of African descent.
Today, Afro LGBT creates a safe space for people, many of whom experience fear and discrimination based on their race and their sexuality. Even though she’s seen people like herself come out and live openly in Europe, she notes that many older people, especially those of African descent, still struggle to embrace their identities fully. “People my age hide a lot, and yet there are so many of them,” she says. “But among ourselves we know very well, who is who.”
She speaks of the importance of coming out, of freeing oneself from the heavy burden of secrecy: “I had the courage to do it because I’d been through so much. It wasn’t easy to accept myself.”
Yaa Sissi told her story to Human Rights Watch for the International Day of Older Persons, October 1, sharing her journey through love, identity, and community that has spanned decades, continents, and challenges.
Discovering Love, Confronting Silence
Yaa Sissi discovered her sexuality as a teenager while living in Brazzaville. At age 17, she fell deeply in love with G., a girl four years her junior. Their relationship was intense but short-lived. After high school graduation, Yaa Sissi moved to the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo for professional training, and they lost touch.
Fourteen years ago – more than 20 years after she was together with G. – a rumor that G. had died led Yaa Sissi to track her down. They rekindled their bond, though they still live in separate countries.
I met Yaa Sissi in her apartment, alongside G, who was visiting.
“There Are So Many People My Age Hiding”
Yaa Sissi speaks fondly of “Carine,” a cultural term from Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo that was used to describe intimate friendships between girls and women. “Our great-grandmothers had ‘Carines,’” she says. “G. was my ‘Carine.’” These relationships, forged in school and village life, were sources of deep companionship and affection. “With your ‘Carine,’ you could exchange gifts, kiss, and make little love gestures,” she says.
Over the years, Yaa Sissi’s relationships have included many women older than her??, including married women. “In my country, many of my lovers were married women,” she recalls. Some held high positions where they worked. She met them through her late husband, who was a prominent government official in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Creating Afro LGBT – “To Put an End to Fear and Isolation”
Though initially involved in other local LGBT organizations, Yaa Sissi felt unseen and unheard as an Afro-descendant. “We Afros were always a bit in our corner. Nobody came up to us to find out what brought us there, how we felt,” she says. “We wanted to be listened to. We’re all in very different situations, even though we’re all LGBT.”
Yaa Sissi became a trusted figure in her community, with many LGBT youth turning to her for support. “It hurt so much to see such injustice,” she says, recalling a child who came to her after being kicked out of their home for identifying as transgender. “Young Afro LGBT people need to be listened to and protected.”
“I’ve Stopped Crying”
Yaa Sissi’s journey has not been easy. In a country like Switzerland, opportunities to make one’s voice heard are more available, but the journey of self-acceptance can be lifelong. “I knew I’d been attracted to women for a very long time, but I fought it with all my might,” she says. The social norms of the Congo, coupled with the teachings of the church, kept her struggling against her own desires. “I sought deliverance in the churches. They prayed over me. I sincerely thought it was a demon.”
Her marriage was also a struggle; she tried to preserve it despite knowing her truth. Her late husband, who held her in high regard in the beginning of their marriage, when she started openly struggling with her sexuality. He went with her to churches and traditional healers to cast homosexuality out of her. But when that didn’t “work,” he became abusive, eventually abandoning her and their two children in Geneva. “It took me over 30 years to come out with myself,” she says tearfully. “Before I said stop, I don’t want to suffer anymore. I used to be Francisca. Reserved, shy in my corner. Today I’m international. The one talking to you now is Sissi. I’ve stopped crying.”
Facing Discrimination as an Older Afro Lesbian
The intersection of age, race, and sexuality poses unique challenges for Yaa Sissi. “When you’re an Afro lesbian, it’s hard enough. I got married because I didn’t want that life,” she explains, adding that she has known many women who felt compelled to marry men and have children to avoid the stigma of being openly lesbian. “I’ve seen people beaten up, insulted, raped, and sometimes forcibly married.”
Despite living openly in Switzerland, Sissi sometimes faces ageist insults. “People call me an ‘old lesbian.’ They say I want to warp their children away.” Yet, she has also experienced support from unexpected places. One day, a man tried to attack her in a bar because he learned she was a lesbian. Also, she was sitting at a table with a woman who said no to his advances several times. But customers stood up for her and demanded he calm down.
“Despite everything my late husband said about me, there’s respect in my family, too. I’m a generous, unifying person.”
A Message for International Day of Older Persons
On this day, Yaa Sissi wants to highlight the experiences of older African LGBT people. “We mustn’t forget Afro LGBT seniors. They’re out there. They also have a lot of problems,” she says. Many seek support but struggle with the idea of mixing with younger generations. “When we talk about Afro LGBT, we mustn’t just look at the people on social media. You also have to think about older people who are often very isolated and live in hiding.”
As I left Yaa Sissi’s apartment, the heart-shaped furniture in her living room caught my eye. “Love is the color of power,” she says with a smile.
South Korea’s commitment to equal rights has suffered a dangerous setback with the appointment of Ahn Chang-ho as chairperson of the government’s National Human Rights Commission of Korea.
A former Constitutional Court justice, Ahn has drawn widespread criticism for his opposition to antidiscrimination protections, particularly for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
Ahn has taken several deeply troubling positions over the years, including opposing comprehensive sexuality education in public schools, claiming antidiscrimination protections spread HIV/AIDS and anal cancer, and suggesting that homosexuality could lead to a communist revolution.
At his confirmation hearing, Ahn reiterated many of these views, casting minority rights as a threat to the viewpoints of the majority.
President Yoon Suk-yeol appointed Ahn despite strong opposition from civil society groups and his concerning confirmation hearing, bypassing the National Assembly’s approval process. Ahn’s confirmation is part of a worrying trend under Yoon’s administration, which has now appointed 29 officials without the National Assembly’s approval.
This appointment is particularly disappointing given South Korea’s already weak record on minority rights. South Korea and Japan are the only two countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) without a comprehensive nondiscrimination law. In 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Committee urged South Korea to pass such a law and expressed concern about ongoing discrimination against various minority groups.
As Human Rights Watch and civil society partners have documented, antidiscrimination protections are urgently needed in South Korea to address unfair treatment based on race, sex, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other characteristics.
For over two decades, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea has been a crucial defender of minority rights, investigating discrimination, developing research, and advocating for an antidiscrimination law. Yet despite widespread public support for antidiscrimination legislation, the National Assembly has repeatedly failed to enact such a law.
As Ahn assumes his new role, it is critical that the commission resist any erosion of its mission and uphold South Korea’s human rights obligations. Any retreat from its commitment to nondiscrimination would be a devastating setback for the country’s progress on equality.
Teams of prominent scientists and ethicists have called for the end of medically unnecessary nonconsensual surgeries on intersex children in two new papers.
On the heels of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s first-ever resolution affirming the rights of intersex people, the papers signal growing international resolve to address rights violations experienced by people born with variations in their sex characteristics, sometimes called intersex traits.
Since the 1950s, surgeons have conducted irreversible and medically unnecessary “normalizing” operations on intersex children, such as procedures to reduce the size of the clitoris, which can result in scarring, sterilization, and psychological trauma. Intersex advocacy groups, as well as various medical and human rights organizations, have spoken out against these surgeries for decades. Despite a growingconsensus that these surgeries should end, as well as global progress on banningthem, some parents still face pressure from surgeons to choose these operations for children too young to participate in the decision.
The authors of one of the expert papers found that surgeons’ subjective cosmetic preferences for the appearance of genitals was one of the most commonly reported justifications in the paper’s sampling of elective “normalizing” surgeries on children younger than 10. Cosmetic appearance of genitals has no validated measure, so the data featured surgeons’ subjective descriptions instead. The authors, including five World Health Organization staff members, concluded that, “Legislating and medical regulatory bodies should advocate for ending the conduct of irreversible, elective, ‘sex-normalizing’ interventions conducted without the full, free and informed consent of the person concerned.”
The second paper, co-signed by dozens of professionals around the world, including physicians, ethicists, and psychologists, examined the ethical implications of “normalizing” interventions on children’s genitals. The authors conclude that clinicians “should not be permitted to perform any nonvoluntary genital cutting or surgery on any child, regardless of the child’s sex traits or socially assigned gender, unless doing so is urgently necessary to protect the child’s physical health.”
Both papers advocate that children born perfectly healthy – just a little different – should be free to grow up and make decisions about their own bodies.
The Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court will hear a challenge on August 30, 2024, to laws that criminalize consensual same-sex conduct by officers in the police and armed forces, Human Rights Watch said today. In an amicus curiae brief, Human Rights Watch said that these discriminatory laws violate the rights under international law of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) officers to equality, privacy, and the ability to work without fear, among others.
“These draconian laws are a stain on the Dominican Republic’s human rights record and contribute to an unchecked discriminatory environment in the police and armed forces,” said Cristian González Cabrera, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. “State-sanctioned bigotry has no place in a democratic society governed by the rule of law and in a region that has mostly disavowed the criminalization of private sexual acts between people of the same sex.”
The Dominican Republic does not ban same-sex conduct by private individuals. Yet, it lags behind on LGBT rights, lacking comprehensive civil anti-discrimination legislation, same-sex marriage or civil union rights, and gender identity recognition for transgender individuals, Human Rights Watch said. In recent months, LGBT activists have criticized a proposed criminal code for not providing protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, including hate crimes provisions.
In 2019, a viral video exposed a Dominican army sergeant in a same-sex encounter, leading to his dismissal. The army cited a “duly proven serious fault that tarnishes the morals and ethics of the institution.” The sergeant filed an appeal. An administrative court dismissed his case in 2021 on procedural grounds, but the sergeant filed a new appeal and is awaiting a final decision.
In 2014, the then-director of the National Police told a congressional committee that existing legislation “does not allow people who are homosexual” to be part of the force. In response to questions about what would happen to homosexual officers already in the police force, the then-director asked for them to be identified, news reports said.
Anderson Javiel Dirocie de León, one of the lawyers leading the constitutional challenge, told Human Rights Watch: “The discriminatory provisions mean that LGBTI officers serve in constant fear of being discovered, sanctioned, and losing everything, including their livelihood. The provisions convey a message from the state that LGBTI people are inherently unfit to perform public functions and can be considered criminals for being who we are.”
In 2004, the Dominican Republic’s congress passed a broad criminal procedure reform that limited the ability of the police and the armed forces to criminally sanction officers, but made clear that those institutions retain their administrative “disciplinary powers.” In 2019, the Constitutional Court clarified that criminal cases against officers should be heard by ordinary criminal courts, but it did not strike down the provisions on sodomy in the security forces’ codes of justice.
In recent years, countries in the region, including Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, and the United States, have scrapped laws that criminalize same-sex conduct by officers.
In its amicus curiae brief, Human Rights Watch said that the criminalization of same-sex conduct violates international standards, including the rights to be protected against arbitrary and unlawful interference with one’s private and family life and to one’s reputation or dignity, as emphasized by the United Nations independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity.
While the provisions under constitutional challenge prohibit same-sex conduct only in the military and police context, they make the Dominican Republic one of the few remaining countries in the Americas to criminalize same-sex conduct.
“President Luis Abinader and Congress should not wait for the Constitutional Court ruling and should promptly introduce legislation to repeal these outdated and discriminatory laws that meddle in officers’ private lives,” González said. “Repealing these laws would send a strong signal to LGBT people and the world that the principles of equality and nondiscrimination are of the utmost importance in the Dominican Republic.”
The Supreme Court of Nepal has ruled that Rukshana Kapali, a transgender woman, should be legally recognized on all documents as a woman without having to submit to medical verification. The judgment is the latest in the court’s history of progressive rulings on sexual orientation and gender identity, which has earned Nepal a positive global reputation on LGBT rights.
Following a 2007 supreme court order, authorities have been issuing some documents listing gender as “other” or “third gender” for more than a decade on the basis of the person’s self-identification. Despite the court order, the lack of a clear central policy has created problems. Trans people in Nepal today who want to change their gender markers to “female” or “male” are typically forced to undergo surgery, which requires traveling outside the country, and then in-country medical assessments, including invasive examinations of post-operative genitals. Even people who are attempting to obtain documents marked “other” are subjected to this humiliating and unnecessary medical scrutiny.
The Yogyakarta Principles – drafted and signed in 2006 by a group of experts, including a former Nepal parliament member and LGBT rights advocate Sunil Babu Pant – state that each person’s self-defined sexual orientation and gender identity is “integral to their personality” and is a basic aspect of identity, personal autonomy, dignity, and freedom. The principles are clear that gender recognition may involve, “if freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or function by medical, surgical or other means.” These principles were the basis of the Supreme Court of Nepal’s 2007 order and are cited in Kapali’s new court victory as well.
Kapali, a trans woman law student, has sued the government of Nepal over 50 times since 2021 – pushing for rights-based legal recognition of gender identity. And while this recent judgment sets a precedent for trans rights, the order only applies to Kapali, meaning others will have to petition courts to be legally recognized according to their gender identity.
A better solution is a central policy. The government can and should make the system work for everyone by issuing a directive that allows people to self-identify their gender on official documents, without medical or other verification.
The supreme court of Ghana on July 24, 2024, upheld a colonial-era law that criminalizes adult consensual same-sex conduct, contrary to Ghana’s human rights obligations, Human Rights Watch said today. The judgment comes at a time when the country is engulfed in a debate over a dangerous anti-LGBT law which would take persecution of sexual and gender minorities and their allies even further.
“Ghana’s supreme court unfortunately upheld the British colonial legacy of criminalizing so-called ‘unnatural sex,’” said Rasha Younes, interim lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights director at Human Rights Watch. “The law had been challenged on the grounds that it violated the constitutionally protected rights to privacy and personal liberties, rights that everyone has under international law as well, and regardless of their sexual orientation.”
Prince Obiri-Korang, a law lecturer at the University of Ghana, initiated the suit to overturn the law. Under section 104(1)(b) of Ghana’s Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29), inherited from the British colonial law, “whoever has unnatural carnal knowledge[…]of a person sixteen years or older, with his consent, is guilty of a misdemeanor.” Unnatural carnal knowledge is defined in section 104(1)(2) as “sexual intercourse with a person in an unnatural manner or with an animal.” According to the supreme court judges, “unnatural manner” also includes the use of sex toys.
With this ruling, the court has expanded the interpretation of Section 104(1)(b), apparently adopting language from the anti-LGBT Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, which specifically prohibits a person, in clause four, from engaging in any acts that undermine the proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values.
In 2017, while Human Rights Watch was researching the impact of this law, Jones Blantari, chief superintendent of Ghana’s police force, told Human Rights Watch, “the term unnatural carnal knowledge is vague, does not have any clear meaning in law, creates difficulties in consistent interpretation and its application is used to target LGBT people.”
The bill carries heavier criminal penalties for same-sex activities, increasing the maximum penalty from three years to five years in prison, and expands the possibility of extending criminal charges against anyone who identifies as LGBT, queer, pansexual, and any other non-conventional gender identity as well as allies to these communities. It would also punish anyone providing support, funding, or public advocacy for sexual and gender minorities rights.
Members of parliament introduced the bill in 2021. In addition to expanding the possibility of criminal charges against those advocating for LGBT rights, the bill allows for criminal charges against anyone who uses social media platforms to produce, publish, or disseminate content promoting activities prohibited by the bill.
Significant figures in Ghana publicly opposed the bill, including the Roman Catholic Cardinal of Ghana Peter Turkson, and a former member of parliament and major political party chair Samia Nkrumah.Nkrumah urged the president to veto the anti-LGBT bill, calling it “brutal, harsh, and unjust.” Nkrumah’s father, the late Kwame Nkrumah, is a key figure in African and Ghanaian history. In the 1950s and 1960s, he led the independence movement and served as the country’s first president and prime minister.
Ghana’s parliament passed the draconian bill in February 2024, and it remains with President Nana Akufo Addo, awaiting his signature.
“Ghana’s supreme court missed its opportunity to rid the country of its alien legacy of egregious colonial-era laws,” Younes said. “The court’s failure to uphold basic rights for LGBT people only further emphasizes why the president should veto the new bill.”
For centuries, two-spirit individuals have been subjected to violence and assimilation. Today, two-spirit activists across the United States are coming together to reclaim their autonomy and preserve their legacy.
Two-spirit is a beacon of contemporary spiritual and cultural identity for Indigenous peoples. It is rooted in an Anishinaabe term signifying the harmonious coexistence of feminine and masculine energies within someone. Originating in the 1990s through the wisdom of Elder Myra Laramee (Cree), the term has replaced a derogatory and colonialist label, shedding light on a concept deeply ingrained in Indigenous histories long before the arrival of European colonizers.
Two-spirit people are honored within Indigenous communities. They are often lauded for their ability to see and address issues through a feminine and masculine lens. Many were held in high regard as keepers of traditions, storytellers, and healers.
Identifying as two-spirit is distinct from the Western term non-binary, which describes someone who does not identify exclusively as a man or woman. As a term sacred and specific to Native people, it is not an identity that non-Indigenous people should adopt or claim.
Two-spirit transcends gender or sexual identity. It encompasses a holistic integration of spiritual identity and societal role rooted in Indigenous wisdom and tradition. As with anyone who identified as LGBTQ, two-spirit people are not monolithic.
But two-spirit is more than an identity; it’s a movement centered on overturning colonization’s profound and harmful effects.
We were inspired to write this piece to center the revolutionary spirit of joy in the face of extreme anti-queer, anti-Native violence. We wanted to contribute, in whatever small way, to ensure that Indigeneity and the nuance of joy in the face of grief are remembered and valued.
The US needs to challenge its harmful colonial legacy, uplift the voices, and respect the autonomy of two-spirit people. Congress should take the first step of righting past wrongs by passing Senate Bill 1723 and House Bill 7227, establishing a federal commission dedicated to racial justice and healing for Native people.
The United States has a long history of attempting to kill, remove, or assimilate Indigenous people. An estimated 15 million Native people lived in North America before colonizers invaded. By the turn of the 20th century, fewer than 238,000 Indigenous people remained. This large-scale campaign of extermination of Indigenous communities included US government actions aimed at exterminating Indigenous culture.
One example of this is the US government’s forced assimilation of an estimated 60,000 Native children in boarding schools from 1819 to 1969.
These schools pushed heteronormative and white supremacist values through coursework focused on manual labor and trades like blacksmithing, farming, and sewing to make Native students more marketable in US society. Indigenous children were not allowed to use their own languages, names, haircuts, or clothing, and they were forbidden from practicing their religion and culture. Native students faced severe punishment, including starvation, corporal punishment, and confinement if they attempted to practice their own culture.
Today, a new generation of two-spirit activists, including Giiwedin Indizhinikaaz, Cleopatra TataBele, and Geo Socomah Neptune, are leveraging social media platforms to amplify Indigenous voices, promote cultural revitalization, and foster joy and acceptance. Through their advocacy, artistry, and activism, they are reclaiming space for Indigenous knowledge systems and challenging oppressive structures that seek to marginalize and erase Indigenous identities. Meanwhile, organizations like the Native Justice Coalition in Michigan use their platform for social and racial justice for Native people and have established a Two-Spirit Program to decolonize gender roles and identities in Native communities.
Two-spirit advocates, creators, and organizations are shaping the new generation of internet activism and knowledge while holding sacred their own joy and power. By speaking truth to power, they continue shaping our world to be more inclusive of human rights.
