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A crowd on an open street, carrying a banner for the Two SPirit Society of Denver, many wearing traditional clothing and holding signs.
Two Spirit Society of Denver delegation at the PrideFest Denver (2011). (Photo: james michael thomas)

The term "two-spirit" is coined.

1990

INDG
QT
CAN
Two Spirit Society of Denver delegation at the PrideFest Denver (2011). (Photo: james michael thomas)

At a Winnipeg conference for Native LGBTQ+ people, the term "two-spirit" is coined and begins to be used by Indigenous people across Turtle Island who experience gender beyond the colonial binary of male and female.

Native communities have had respected cultural roles for gender non-conforming people for millennia. Other terms for the range of gender expression outside of what the West considers to be "gender conforming" include winkte in Lakota, nádleeh in Diné, and more.

"Two-spirit" is the English translation of niizh manidoog in the Ojibwe language. Other Ojibwe identifiers for people within the English umbrella of queerness include: ogichidaakwe, ininiikaazo/ikwekaazo, ayaakwe, and many more. All of these are cultural terms and are not available to people outside of these cultures to use.