Back in the olden days, māhū were accepted as a “third gender,” and had really cool spiritual and social roles. Māhū were teachers, priests, and healers. Parents would even ask them to name their children. I mean, who does that? It’s funny because there’s also a third gender celebrated in Filipino culture, too, babaylan. Babaylans were traditionally shamans and healers and could be male, female, or trans. It’s kind of a shame that I didn’t know that māhū and babaylan were both such beautiful words and spiritual roles until later in life. It made no sense for the kids to call me “māhū” in a
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