Two Spirits tells a nuanced story of what it means to be poor, transgendered, and Navajo, and examines the lives of Fred Martinez, his friends, family, the police, and those in the larger community who were most affected by his murder. The documentary explores Fred’s short and compelling life, his terrible death, and his enduring legacy.

Read more about the film at http://www.twospirits.org. Read the Indian Country Today article here: http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/southwest/42263947.html.

"Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Gender, and the Murder of Fred Martinez" Film Description:

Haunting and heartbreaking, the documentary Two Spirits artfully interweaves the story of the short life and brutal death of a Navajo teenager with a penetrating examination of the Native American two-spirit tradition. Fred Martinez was nádleehi (pronounced NOD-lay), a male-bodied person with a spiritual essence that is feminine, a special gift according to his ancient Navajo culture. But his determination to express his truest identity tragically cost him his life. He was one of the youngest hate-crime victims in modern history when he was brutally murdered at sixteen by a young man who bragged to friends that he had “bug-smashed a fag.” Two Spirits explores the life and death of a boy who was also a girl, the fluidity and essentially spiritual nature of gender and sexuality.

Two Spirits offers an informed and insightful conversation about gender and sexuality that is anchored in traditions that were once widespread among the indigenous cultures of North America. The film explores the history of Native two-spirit people—individuals who combine the traits of both men and women with qualities that are also unique to their status as people who express multiple genders. In Navajo culture there are four genders; in other indigenous cultures there are more. And although two-spirit people were once celebrated in many tribes, today they find their traditions and even their existence in Native history denied or denigrated, and this heritage is in danger of being entirely lost.

It is widely understood that violence is perpetrated against LGBT people in every corner of the globe, yet it is far less commonly known that many indigenous peoples around the world have always recognized the natural complexity of gender and sexuality—something that can be seen in their creation stories and in spiritual traditions that offer a more sophisticate and humane perspective. Stories like those told in Two Spirits are sorely needed to deepen the conversation, bring a richer historical perspective to the mainstream media, and to challenge audiences to experience a completely different mindset.

The film mourns the loss of young Fred Martinez’s life and the threatened disappearance of the two-spirit tradition, but it also brims with hope and the belief that we all are enriched by multi-gendered people, and that all of us—regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or cultural heritage—must be free to be our truest selves. The film makes the case that in the twenty-first century we need to return to traditional values.

Article Info (if article link expires):

Newspaper: Indian Country Today
Author: Staff reports
Story Published: Apr 1, 2009

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