Dear Indigenous Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit (LGBTQ2S+) Youth;
I write this letter to you and at some subconscious level, I write this letter to a younger version of myself.
The words I write here are meant to offer hope and to remind you of the strength, beauty, and wisdom that was inherited.
If I failed, I am sorry.
I want to recognize that we live in a time of great peril. One that has been a constant that spans generations. For some of you, that violence has pushed you away from spaces meant to be home. You did not and you do not deserve any of that kind of violence. The (colonized) world we are forced to live in tells us that we do not belong and that we alone are what is wrong with this world.
That. Is. A. Lie.
No matter what anyone says, young, old, elder or not, Native, colonizer, etc. You are what this world needs. You alone are the embodiment of creation made with divinity and love that no one else has. For the longest time, I have hidden aspects of myself, and I continue to do so and just like you, for survival. Yet, also out of anger and out of sadness. Both of which are valid and welcomed. This world has been terrible towards us and continues to be terrible towards us.
For those who want to watch this world burn, I know what that feels like because I had wanted the same thing and sometimes that feeling comes back. It is an anger and sadness that is beyond us because it has always been with us since the arrival of those white demons.
Do not hold it in. Let out that anger. Let out that sadness. Cry. Yell. I will join you!
It has taken me so many years to be in this moment of healing and it will take me many more to get where I want to be. I do not want to pass on that inherited anger and sadness, which is why I acknowledge and welcome you to express it.
This world is cruel. And yet, I have this hope that our lives, our beauty, will thrive. My heart aches for such an existence. My body is weary from fighting and my mind wanders.
But, my imagination tethers me. I see a world with us. Welcomed back into our homes taken from us and celebrated all day and every day. I want that for you. I want you to live in such a world.
On this Indigenous Peoples Day, I celebrate you. I celebrate your presence and your becoming. Your power is boundless. Your beauty has no equal. Your wisdom transcends.
I celebrate everything you have done, everything you are, and everything you will accomplish // do.
With all the love I can give,
A non-binary Indigenous femme with amazing hair. 💛
*Edit*
For those who are cisgender, heterosexual, and/or a colonizer, on this date, share or return (esp. colonizers) some of those financial resources with your Indigenous LGBTQ2S+ friends, colleagues, co-workers, peers, etc.
If you’re Native and not part of the LGBTQ2S+ community, call out your family // community’s homophobia, trans-phobia / misogyny, and more.