Indigenous Homosexuality

Gay And Transgender Aborigines and the Colonisation of Sexuality

© Tyson Yunkaporta

sistergirls, sistergirls.com

Colonial homophobia marginalised homosexual and transgender Aborigines. But intolerance was never part of traditional life, as seen in the story of the Tiwi Sistergirls.

Yimpininni - Sistergirls

"Sistergirls" has become a general term for transgender and transsexual men. But in the Tiwi Islands, it's a whole culture unto itself. There are 70 sistergirls living on the islands, and the numbers are growing every year. In that small community, Sistergirls account for a whopping 4% of the population. This has been described by the Aids Council as the highest percentage of gays in any community they have come across.

Refusal To Be Defined By Outsiders

Offensive?

I can think of a lot of my countrymen who would be offended by this article. I apologise for the offense, but our own discourses are just as valid as those of the "mainstream", and as such, equally invite critical evaluation. This is the only way we can ever hope to get the colonial chewing gum out of our cultural hair. (A clumsy metaphor, but I'm keeping it.) We need to have the courage to do this.

As such, I would like to make sure my site isn't completely dominated by a heterosexual outlook. So I am expecting to post some guest articles or blogs by trans-gender Native Americans over the next couple of weeks. But all contributions are welcome from gay, lesbian and transgender Indigenous people - email me.


The copyright of the article Indigenous Homosexuality in Gay/Gender Issues is owned by Tyson Yunkaporta. Permission to republish Indigenous Homosexuality must be granted by the author in writing.




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