The struggle for 2SLGBTQIA+ liberation is inseparable from the struggle against colonialism. Long before European contact, many Indigenous nations across Turtle Island honoured diverse roles, genders, and sexualities. The term Two-Spirit reflects a sacred identity held within many Indigenous cultures, one that existed long before Western categories of gay, trans, or nonbinary. Colonization did not just bring land theft and violence. It imposed rigid binaries, punished gender variance, and sought to erase spiritual and cultural understandings that embraced complexity.

Today, Two-Spirit people continue to face disproportionate levels of harm, including poverty, incarceration, homelessness, and erasure within both Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+ spaces. Pride must make space to listen, to learn, and to honour these voices- not with tokenism, but with active accountability. The systems that harm queer and trans people are deeply intertwined with those that harm Indigenous peoples. There is no queer liberation without decolonization.

Solidarity means more than recognition. It means returning what was taken, supporting Indigenous-led movements, and challenging the ways that settler culture continues to marginalize Two-Spirit and wider Indigenous identities. It means asking whose stories are being centered and whose voices are being left out. As we celebrate Pride, may we remember that resistance did not begin at Stonewall- it existed long before, on this land and in these communities.

Honour the roots. Honour the land. Honour the People.