Day 18. Language as Liberation – Queer Words in Global Tongues.
Language is not neutral; it shapes how we see ourselves and one another.
Around the world, queer communities have always found ways to name love, gender, and identity outside colonial binaries. Yet colonization often imposed English, Spanish, French, or Portuguese as dominant tongues, erasing or stigmatizing local words that once honored fluidity.
Today, indigenous communities are reviving and reimagining these words as acts of liberation. In the Philippines, bakla describes a uniquely Filipino gender identity that blends femininity, queerness, and resilience. In East Africa, the term shoga, once simply meaning “friend,”has been reclaimed by LGBTQ+ communities in Swahili-speaking regions. Across Turtle Island, Two-Spirit people are restoring traditional terms for gender and sexuality in Indigenous languages, reminding us that queerness has always existed in sacred, local forms.
Each word carries a universe of meaning, rooted in place, history, and community. To speak these words aloud is to resist erasure, to claim belonging, and to affirm that our tongues themselves can be sites of healing.
As poet and scholar Gloria Anzaldúa wrote:
“I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself.”
When we revive queer-inclusive language, we make space for futures where every voice, in every tongue, can speak itself whole.
Learn More
- Book: Decolonizing Trans/Gender 101 by b. binaohan (Filipino-Canadian perspective on language and identity)
- Article: Beyond Two-Spirit – Indigenous People Look to Revive Traditional LGBTQ+ Terms = CBC Canada
- Article: ‘Gender hegemony’: How colonialism distorted African perspectives of trans identity by Minority Africa
- Resource: Exploring Histories of Two-Spirit Identity in Indigenous Cultures in Canada – A few examples of gender-diverse expressions from First Nations and Inuit languages are listed below:
Anishinaabemowin:
– Agokwe = man who is also a woman
– Agokwe-nini = woman who is also a man
– Okitcitakwe = warrior woman
– Ogokwe = warrior man
Cree:
– Napêw iskwêwisêhot = man who dresses as a woman
– Iskwêw ka napêwayat = woman who dresses as a man
– Ayahkwêw = man living as a woman
– Înahpîkasoht = woman living as a man
– Iskwewak (Plains Cree) = women-centred identities/non-binary roles
– Iskwêhkân = one who acts or lives as a woman
– Napêhkân = one who acts or lives as a man
Dakota:
– Winkta = male-assigned
– Winkte = half man, half woman
– Wintike = double woman
Inuktitut:
– Sipiniq = infant whose sex changes at birth
– Arnaasiaq = man who should have been a woman
– Angutaasiaq = woman who should have been a man
– Choupan = man who expresses gender through women’s clothing
Ktunaxa:
– Titqattek = woman who takes on traditionally masculine roles
Mi’kmaq:
– Etuijijaqimijuinu’k = Two-Spirit (present-day term)
Nuu-chah-nulth:
– Tuučuk = more like a woman
– Čakusšƛ = becoming a man
Siksikáí’powahsin:
– Aakíí’skassi = man who performs roles traditionally associated with women
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