Two-Spirit Elder Ma-Nee Chacaby: 'I'm Old, But So What?'

"Put love in front of you when you get up in the morning and it'll guide you to a beautiful place. It'll guide you."

When Ma-Nee Chacaby was four years old, her grandmother sat her down and told her that she was Two-Spirit.

I find this moment in Ma-Nee's life wildly compelling. The vast majority of queer and trans folks learn about their identities through self-discovery, but for Ma-Nee, it was information that was shared with her by a trusted relative. 

Before colonization, indigenous communities across North America included people who identified as both male and female. Today they're most often known as Two-Spirit, a relatively new term that has many overlaps with words like non-binary and genderqueer. 

Ma-Nee grew up in a rural, isolated area in Canada before moving to Thunder Bay, Ontario. It was there that she got sober, discovered her love for women, and eventually came out publicly while being interviewed during a protest. In the ‘90s, there were close to zero other out queer indigenous people in Thunder Bay.

"After I came out, I did have a hard life. People beat the crap out of me because I was Two-Spirit...And the people that beat me would say, 'You're ruining our lives because now white people are not going to like us anymore.'"

Ma-Nee is the author of A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder. You can listen to our interview here.

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We’ll be back next week with a 90-year-old drag queen who I was lucky enough to get to know and see perform this summer in Cherry Grove.

See you next time.

Much love,
Jeffrey
@jeffmasters1 (Come find me on Twitter or Instagram!)

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