Lesbians united: Facing down homophobic bullies

Stonewall's 'Some People Are Gay. Get Over It!' campaign is tackling bigotry in our schools

By Rachel Shields


Some of the UK's most prominent female writers, comedians and presenters, and one MP, are chatting over coffee and biscuits in a smart London bar. The topic of conversation isn't the latest play at the National, the current publishing sensation, or a piece of controversial legislation. No, these women are talking about sexual abuse; about insults scrawled on toilet walls; hate-filled letters published in newspapers; name-calling in the street: in short, about the harassment they have suffered as a result of their sexuality.

Like an estimated 1.8 million women in Britain, Stella Duffy, Rhona Cameron, Amy Lamé, Angela Eagle and Sarah Waters are lesbian or bisexual, and as some of the country's few prominent lesbians, the are fronting the gay rights group Stonewall's latest campaign, entitled: "Some People Are Gay. Get Over It!".

Timed to coincide with the start of the new academic year, the simple slogan was the idea of school pupils and is intended to highlight the problem of homophobic bullying in schools.

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"A taster campaign of the billboards saw some defaced with homophobic graffiti – reminding us that prejudice is still very much alive in Britain today," said Stonewall's Ben Summerskill.

This sentiment is backed by recent research by YouGov, which revealed that one in five gay people in the UK has been a victim of hate crime in the past three years. These statistics indicate that, while gay rights in the UK have improved dramatically in the 20 years since Stonewall was founded – decades in which Section 28, the controversial legislation that banned teachers from talking about homosexuality in schools, has been repealed, civil partnerships have been introduced, and the age of consent has been equalised – the struggle to eradicate homophobia from the streets and schools of Britain may not be over yet.

Leading the fight against homophobia...

Stella Duffy

Writer, 46

"I was brought up in a small town in New Zealand, where there wasn't a lot of gay identity being paraded. I would have felt a lot less lonely if there had been. There are about 12 'out' lesbians in the public eye. I think it is less socially acceptable to be a lesbian. In the world of entertainment we've had pop stars like Elton John, Boy George and Will Young as cultural icons, and that helps. Gay men didn't have the problem of invisibility; they had a law against them that gave them something solid to join and unite against. We are still living in a culture that wants women to get married and have babies. They don't know where to put us, especially lesbians who look like me. I haven't been bullied, but I've suffered everything from sexual harassment to other, minor inappropriateness. I went to another civil partnership last week. If these are so great, then we should scrap marriage and everyone should have them. I've been with my partner for 15 years; we had a civil partnership three days after it was legal, but I want to get married."

Angela Eagle

MP, 48

"We fought to equalise the age of consent, to repeal Section 28, but there is still more to do in terms of legislation. We need a law dealing with incitement to homophobic hatred, like the law against incitement to racial hatred. If something leads to violence against people in a certain group, then that shouldn't be tolerated. There is a group in Parliament who'll be hostile to legislative change around the issue of gay rights; around 70 per cent of the Tory Party. You need a progressive majority of MPs to move on. I'm the only lesbian in Parliament. The only 'role model' in terms of sexuality in politics I had is the MP Maureen Colquhoun, outed in a disgusting way by Nigel Dempster in the mid-1970s. She lost her seat at the next election. I got to the stage where I was willing to risk losing my seat if that's what happened. I didn't know what to expect, but luckily I was supported by my then boss, John Prescott. Tony Blair was also extremely supportive. My constituents were fantastic."

Amy Lamé

TV presenter, 38

"I came out in my final year of university, and the bullying was shocking. It was a systematic hate campaign; from horrible letters printed in the school paper to graffiti on toilet walls. My academic work suffered as a result of it. I grew up in a small town in New Jersey – a cross between Essex and Liverpool – an hour out of New York, but it might as well have been a world away. I had no lesbian role models when I was young, and it wasn't until I started reading feminist books as a teenager that I found a channel for my feelings. I know what it is like to be isolated and feel as if you are the only one. I did a series called My Big Gay Prom with gay teenagers, which is one of the things I'm most proud of doing. Things have changed dramatically because people like Stonewall have worked hard to change laws, perceptions and mindsets. Rights and freedoms in the United States now pale in comparison to the UK. I've been in the UK for 17 years and have been with my partner for 15 years, but we couldn't go to live in the US because our civil partnership isn't recognised there."

Rhona Cameron

Comedian and author, 43

"Let's remind ourselves of a few things that have happened in the past year: in Liverpool a young boy was killed for being gay; elsewhere in the UK a man watched his partner stabbed to death and called faggot; and in South Africa a promising young footballer was gang-raped and killed for being a lesbian. The idea that these things aren't going on is just wrong. Statistically, homophobic bullying is still a big problem in schools, and a big factor in teen suicide. I was bullied for a time at school. I lived in fear of people turning up at my house and shouting stuff. Events that happen at school can scar you. I hadn't heard of any lesbians when I was at school; I used to look up 'lesbian' in the dictionary as I didn't know what it meant. It is disappointing that there are so few athletes out. If you are at a rough comprehensive, you're not going to know about some novelist, but you'll know about sports stars and pop stars. There are at least six gay Premier League footballers who are closeted; some of the female sporting legends of all time were, and are, gay."

Sarah Waters

Writer, 43

"Lesbianism is a part of life, but young people who are gay can feel isolated and like freaks. I think it is both easier and harder for young people now. Because of the greater visibility of gay people, they are also more of a target: there is a climate of homophobia that wasn't the case in my day. I don't like the way that the word 'gay' is used as an insult. I use the word 'dyke', though. I feel we have reclaimed it. Offence comes from the way words are used, not the words themselves. We're more protected than ever in law, but now more cultural and social changes are needed. We see far more gay men in the public eye than women. This is partly because gay culture on the whole is more flamboyant and glamorous. For me, as a writer, there are quite a lot of lesbians around. Literature feels like a lesbian-friendly place. I doubt young lesbians look up to people like me, more to people like Beth Ditto; it is healthy and exciting that there are role models like her."

Lesbians united: Facing down homophobic bullies

What is "Transgender"?

What Is "Transgender"?



DVDs of this video are now available at

Gender Identity Project (GIP)

Transgender Basics is a 20 minute educational film on the concepts of gender and transgender people. Two providers from the Center's Gender Identity Project (GIP) discuss basic concepts of gender, sexual orientation, identity and gender roles. Three transgender community members share their personal experiences of being trans and genderqueer. The film targets service providers and others working with the LGBT community, but it also provides a fascinating glimpse into gender and identity for the general public. "Our culture likes to make things simple, and gender isn't." Carrie Davis, Transgender Community Organizer, in Transgender Basics. For more information contact the Gender Identity Project at 212-620-7310 or at

Gender Identity Project (GIP)

Art Pride 2

"UNA MIRADA EUROPEA AL MANGA GAY"
30.07.2009 > 20.08.2009

Con la colaboración de CIRCUIT FESTIVAL, el mayor evento Gay y Lésbico de Europa, la GALERÍA ARTEVISTAS BARCELONA presenta ART PRIDE 2, la segunda edición de su gran exposición de arte Gay y Lesbian.

Este año, una selección de artistas europeos ofrecerá su particular visión del cómic japonés de temática homosexual: el YAOI y el YURI MANGA


La inauguración tendrá lugar el 4 de agosto a las 20h en nuestra galería.

La ruta cultural empezará este mismo día a partir de las 19h en el ESPACE AMPLE (C/Ample 5) con la presentación de la exposición VANITY.

El 6 de agosto a las 17H, YURI PROJECT (las creadoras del primer fanzine de YURI MANGA en España) organizarán una charla en nuestra galería sobre el YURI, el comic japonés de temática lésbica y bisexual.

Art Pride 2

Gay & Lesbian Information

Am I gay? Are you born gay? Can you stop being gay?

How many gay people are there? Numbers of gay people

Homophobia, prejudice & attitudes to gay men and lesbians

Defining homosexual, gay & lesbian

Coming out - what does it mean to 'come out'?

Gay men, lesbians, sex and relationships

Lesbians, bisexual women and safe sex

Young gay men, HIV & AIDS

Gay at school

Resources for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or unsure

'Young Gay Men Talking' booklet [PDF]

Two-Spirit

Two-Spirit (also two spirit or twospirit) people are Native Americans who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles found traditionally among many Native Americans and Canadian First Nations indigenous groups. Traditionally the roles included wearing the clothing and performing the work of both male and female genders. The term usually implies a masculine spirit and a feminine spirit living in the same body and was coined by contemporary gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Native Americans to describe themselves and the traditional roles they are reclaiming. There are many indigenous terms for these individuals in the various Native American languages as "what scholars generically refer to as 'Native American gender diversity' was a fundamental institution among most tribal peoples"[1].

As of 1991, male and female bodied Two-Spirit people have been "documented in over 130 tribes, in every region of North America, among every type of native culture".[2]


Terminology

The older term berdache is a generic term used primarily by anthropologists, and is frequently rejected as inappropriate and offensive by Native Americans. This may be largely due to its pejorative etymology as it is a loan from French bardache via Spanish bardaxa or bardaje/bardaja via Italian bardasso or berdasia via Arabic bardaj meaning "kept boy; male prostitute, catamite" from Persian bardaj < Middle Persian vartak < Old Iranian *varta-, cognate to Avestan varəta- "seized, prisoner," formed from an Indo-European root *welə- meaning "to strike, wound" (which is seen in English as vulnerable). It has widely been replaced with two-spirit.[3][4][5]

Two-spirit originated in Winnipeg, Canada in 1990 during the third annual intertribal Native American/First Nations gay and lesbian conference. It is a calque of the Ojibwa phrase niizh manidoowag (two spirits). It was chosen to distance Native/First Nations people from non-natives as well as from the words berdache and gay.[6]


Definition and historic societal role

These individuals were sometimes viewed in certain tribes as having two spirits occupying one body. Their dress is usually a mixture of traditionally male and traditionally female articles. They have distinct gender and social roles in their tribes.

Two-spirited individuals perform specific social functions in their communities. In some tribes male-bodied two-spirits held specific active roles which, varying by tribe, may include:

healers or medicine persons
gravediggers, undertakers, handling and burying of the deceased (Bankalachi, Mono, Yokuts)
burial festivities (Achomawai, Atsugewi, Bankalachi, Mono, Tübatulabal, Yokuts, Oglala Lakota, Timucua)
conduct mourning rites (Yokuts)
conduct sexual rites
conveyers of oral traditions and songs (Yuki)
nurses during war expeditions (Cheyenne, Achomawi, Oglala Lakota, Huchnom, Karankawa, Timucua)
foretold the future (Winnebago, Oglala Lakota)
conferred lucky names on children or adults (Oglala Lakota, Papago)
weaving and basketry (Zuni, Navajo, Papago, Klamath, Kato, Lassik, Pomo, Yuki)
made pottery (Zuni, Navajo, Papago)
made beadwork and quillwork (Oglala Lakota, Ponca)
matchmaking (Cheyenne, Omaha, Oglala Lakota)
mediator between lovers or married persons (Navajo)
made feather regalia for dances (Maidu)
special skills in games of chance
ceremonial roles during and leading scalp-dances (Cheyenne)
fulfilled special functions in connection with the Sun Dance (Crow, Hidatsa, Oglala Lakota)

In some tribes female-bodied two-spirits typically took on roles such as:

chief, council
trader
hunter, trapper, fisher
warrior, raider
guides
peace missions
vision quests, prophets
medicine persons
Some examples of two-spirited people in history include accounts by Spanish conquistadors who spotted a two-spirited individual(s) in almost every village they entered in Central America. There are descriptions of two-spirited individuals having strong mystical powers. In one account, raiding soldiers of a rival tribe began to attack a group of foraging women. When they perceived that one of the women, the one that did not run away, was a two-spirit, they halted their attack and retreated after the two-spirit countered them with a stick, determining that the two-spirit would have great power which they would not be able to overcome.

Native people have often been perceived as "warriors," and with the acknowledgment of two-spirit people, that romanticized identity becomes broken. In order to justify this new "Indian" identity many explained it away as a “form of social failure, women-men are seen as individuals who are not in a position to adapt themselves to the masculine role prescribed by their culture” (Lang, 28). Lang goes on to suggest that two-spirit people lost masculine power socially, so they took on female social roles to climb back up the social ladder within the tribe.

Cross dressing of two-spirit people was not always an indicator of cross acting (taking on other gender roles and social status within the tribe). Lang explains “the mere fact that a male wears women’s clothing does not say something about his role behavior, his gender status, or even his choice of partner…” (62). Often within tribes, a child’s gender was decided by depending on either their inclination toward either masculine or feminine activities, or their intersex status. Puberty was about the time by which clothing choices were made to physically display their gender choice.

Two-spirit people, specifically male-bodied (biologically male, gender female), could go to war and have access to male activities such as sweat lodges.[7] However, they also took on female roles such as cooking and other domestic responsibilities. Today’s societal standards look down upon feminine males, and this perception of that identity has trickled into Native society. The acculturation of these attitudes has created a sense of shame towards two-spirit males who live or dress as females and there is no longer a wish to understand the dual lifestyle they possess.

Two-spirits might have relationships with people of either sex.[8] Female-bodied two-spirits usually had sexual relations or marriages with only females.[9] In the Lakota tribe, two-spirits commonly married widowers; a male-bodied two-spirit could perform the function of parenting the children of her husband's late wife without any risk of bearing new children to whom she might give priority.[10] Partners of two-spirits did not take on any special recognition, although some believed that after having sexual relations with a two-spirit they would obtain magical abilities, be given obscene nicknames by the two-spirited person which they believed held "good luck," or in the case of male partners, receive a boost to their masculinity. Relationships between two two-spirited individuals is absent in the literature with one tribe as an exception, the Tewa.[11] Male-bodied two-spirits regarded each other as "sisters," it is speculated that it may have been seen as incestuous to have a relationship with another two-spirit.[12] It is known that in certain tribes a relationship between a two-spirit and non-two-spirit was seen on the most part as neither heterosexual nor homosexual (in modern day terms) but more "hetero-gender," Europeans however saw them as being homosexual. Partners of two-spirits did not experience themselves as "homosexual," and moreover drew a sharp conceptual line between themselves and two-spirits.[13]

Although two-spirits were both respected and feared in many tribes, the two-spirit was not beyond reproach or even being killed for bad deeds. In the Mohave tribe for instance, they frequently became medicine persons and were likely to be suspected of witchcraft in cases of failed harvest or of death. They were, like any other medicine person, frequently killed over these suspicions (such as the female-bodied two-spirit named Sahaykwisā).[14] Another instance in the late 1840s was of a Crow male-bodied two-spirit who was caught, possibly raiding horses, by the Lakota and was killed.[15]

According to certain reports there had never been an alternative gender among the Comanche.[16] This is true of some Apache bands as well, except for the Lipan, Chiricahua, Mescalero, and southern Dilzhe'e.[17][18] One tribe in particular, the Eyak, has a single report from 1938 that they did not have an alternative gender and they held such individuals in low esteem, although whether this sentiment is the result of acculturation or not is unknown.[19][20] It has been claimed that the Iroquois did not either,[16] although there is a single report from Bacqueville de La Potherie in his book published in 1722, Histoire de l'Amérique septentrionale, that indicates that an alternative gender existed among them (vol. 3, pg. 41).[21] Although all tribes were influenced by European homophobia/transphobia,[22][23][24][25][26][27] certain tribes were particularly so, such as the Acoma, Atsugewi, Dilzhe'e (Tonto) Apache, Cocopa, Costanoan, Klamath, Maidu, Mohave, Nomlaki, Omaha, Oto, Pima, Wind River Shoshone, Tolowa, and Winnebago.[28]

It has been claimed that the Aztecs and Incas had laws against such individuals,[29][30][31] though there are some authors who feel that this was exaggerated or the result of acculturation as all of the documents indicating this are post-conquest and any that existed before had been destroyed by the Spanish.[26][32] The belief that these laws existed, at least for the Aztecs, comes from the Florentine Codex. According to Dr. Nancy Fitch Professor of History at California State University,

There is evidence that indigenous peoples authored many codices, but the Spaniards destroyed most of them in their attempt to eradicate ancient beliefs. [...] The Florentine Codex is unquestionably a troubling primary source. Natives writing in Nahuatl under the supervision of the Spanish Fray Bernardino de Sahagún apparently produced the manuscript in the 1500s. The facts of its production raise serious questions about whether the manuscript represents the vision of the vanquished or of the colonizers [...] colonization of the natives’ minds loomed large in the Spanish project [...] To make matters worse, while it appears that the original manuscript was completed in Nahuatl some time around 1555, no evidence of it remains. Authorities in New Spain confiscated his manuscripts in 1575, and at various times, the Spanish monarchy ordered him to stop his work. The earliest known version of the manuscript is, thus, Sahagún’s summary of it written in Spanish. In 1585, he published a revised version of the codex, which, he argued, corrected some errors and integrated some things ignored in his earlier summary. Sahagún’s revised version is the manuscript commonly known as the Florentine Codex.[33]

– Nancy Fitch, The Conquest of Mexico Annotated Bibliography


Modern societal role

The term "Two-Spirit" is most comfortably applied to contemporary individuals and groups who identify as such, and Two-Spirit men may distinguish between spiritual and cultural practitioners, or "Two-Spirits", and "gay Indians". Modern Two-Spirit activities include:

Knowledge in ritual, ceremonial, religious, and culture
Knowledge and skill in crafts, especially women's
Teaching
Child-care for family and community
Two-Spirit and gay Indian men often report accepting female relatives and communities willing to enforce the closet. Native cultures may be considered to have "indiscriminately" adopted European values including sexism and homophobia and it is commonly argued that being "gay" or "cross-dressing" is not "traditional" or not "Indian". The re-adoption of Two-Spirit roles may be seen then as a healing for both Two-Spirit individuals and Native cultures, and modern Two-Spirit identity is fundamentally concerned with tradition.


People

Historical "Two-Spirits"

Hosteen Klah
Kaúxuma Núpika
Osh-Tisch
Pine Leaf
We'wha
Yellow Head


Modern Self-identified Two-Spirits

Beth Brant
Alec Butler[34]
Chrystos
Carole LaFavor
Rod Michano

Two-Spirit