THE AMERICAS
…if nature puts a burden on a man by making him different, it also gives him a power.
John Fire Lame Deer,
Sioux Medicine Man
The Americas cover a vast swath of land stretching from pole to pole, dividing the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. “Discovered” by Europeans on accident, these terrains of the Western Hemisphere were already well populated before colonization by the Old World. From Patagonia to the Yukon, the Americas were home to numerous peoples, each with their own histories, cultures, and beliefs.
The spiritual traditions and cultures here in the New World are as numerous as the indigenous peoples themselves. But in terms of queer spirituality and tradition, there are two general categories. First, there is Latin America, where the largest and mightiest empires of the Americas once existed, though the Catholic Church now reigns supreme. Then there is North America (for our purposes, the lands above Mexico), inhabited by tribes of Native Americans, famed for their prolific acceptance of “two-spirit” people.
For our queer trek across the Americas, we’ll follow the course of history to plot our route. Beginning in Latin America, where the first empires fell, we’ll transition northbound toward the Native American tribes and end in the great white north of the Arctic Circle.