Native-American

From My Perspective: Phyllis Van Wanseele

In my life there are certain times that stand out like stop signs at intersections. When my son came out to me is one of those vivid flash points in my life.

I am a Kumeyaay native person from San Diego, CA. I was raised on a local Indian reservation, so I began my life as being different from the "city" kids at school. My life was always different. I always looked for the differences and found them. There are no gay people in my immediate family nor were there any known gay people on the reservation. I never outwardly knew gay folks. In school my sister had a friend who was different but not termed "gay."

>> Read all of Phyllis' story.

LINKS TO EXTERNAL PAGES:

• GLAAD’s Native American LGBT Community
• NativeOut
• Two Spirit Press Room
• The Fred Martinez Project
• Indigenous Literature with a Queer/LGBT/Two-Spirit Sensibility
• Article: Rainbow and Red (from In the Fray)
• Article: How We Find Ourselves – Identity Development and Two-Spirit People (from Harvard Education Review)