I really enjoyed listening to Richard LaFortune talk, and am very happy he was able to come to Washington State University. Some of the points he made were things I had not heard before – like the fact that the term ‘berdache’ was actually a Persian word for a young male prostitute – though some of the concepts were ideas that we had discussed in class.
One thing I thought particularly interesting was the history of changing the anthropological use of the term ‘berdache’ to describe Native American members of the queer community to one that has historical significance to the indigenous community. The term two-spirit was actually used in some Native communities, unlike the term berdache which was applied to them through explorers and other people through the West who applied it to anybody who did not meet the gender binary they were familiar with. After LaFortune explained the significance of the term I completely understood where the inappropriateness of the term comes from. I know we used the term in class, but we could probably agree that the anthropological community was right in deciding not to use that term anymore.
Overall, I am extremely glad that he was here to speak to our community. As an Alaskan it was fun to listen to somebody from another region than my own, and as an advocate on behalf of queer rights I found the discussion on the difference between the Western idea of gay rights and the idea in Native American communities is completely different. As an example he talked about our idea of "gay marriage." He explained that it is not such a big deal for his community to have the right to marry, because as far as most of the cultures are concerned they have had gay marriage for over 10,000 years. So that is not where their fight is, and when queer rights groups try to connect with the Two-Spirit community without understanding that history it results in a disconnect that can not be ignored.
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