(The term two-spirit is a translation of the Anishinaabe word niizh manidoowag. Two-spirit emerged as a way to reclaim acceptance of people who do not fit neatly into a male-female binary and who are not exclusively attracted to what is thought of as the opposite gender. As with any broad term, like our earlier discussion of the terms for Native people, it doesn’t capture the diversity of attitudes regarding gender and sexuality in Native American tribes. Yet it is useful as shorthand, so I’ll use it here.)
