Transgender children are considered natural by many traditional communities

TGNC children have been accepted and validated in Samoan, Mohave, Shoshone, Ute, Kitanemuk and Pima-Papago societies.

Many people in traditional societies around the world have acknowledged transgender kids as natural, and supported these children’s development into transgender adults who are valued members of their communities:

Samoan

Fa’afafine (“in the manner of a woman”) is a recognized third gender in Samoan society. Most villages have fa’afafine residents. Many fa’afafine adults reported being accepted by their families since childhood.

Rona Tauli Lee, mother of Keyonce, an adult fa’afafine who “showed effeminate signs from age three,” said, “Keyonce is my child and I accept my children as they are.”

Sources

Barrett, Jonathan. “Samoa's 'third gender' delicately balances sex and religion.” Reuters, 30 Jul 2018, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pacific-samoa-gender-idUSKCN1UQ036

Bartlett, N.H., Vasey, P.L. A Retrospective Study of Childhood Gender-Atypical Behavior in Samoan Fa’afafine . Archives of Sex Behavior 35, 659–666 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-006-9055-1

Mohave

In the 1930s, Mohave community members said they recognized alyha: (AMAB transfeminine) and hwame: (AFAB transmasculine) individuals “while they were young children.”

“When there is a desire in the child’s heart to [live as a gender other than the one assigned at birth,]  the child will act different. It will let people become aware of that desire. They may insist on giving the child the toys and garments of [its assigned gender at birth], but the child will throw them away.”

“It is in their nature to behave that way. They cannot help it.”

alyha: and hwame: identities were believed to have been determined before birth:

“In addition to fixed personality traits expressed through childhood interests, Mohaves credited predestination... and dreams with shaping alyha: and hwame: identity. If a child showed a pronounced interest in the activities of the opposite sex, it was considered evidence that their prenatal dreams were those of an alyha: or hwame:”

The text in paratheses are paraphrases of book text that was filtered through transphobic, dated European lenses. 

Source:

Roscoe, Will. “Dreams of Power: Third and Fourth Genders in Yuman Culture and History,” Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America. St Martin’s Press, 1998, p139.

Shoshone, Ute, Kitanemuk and Pima-Papago

Among the Shoshone, Ute, Kitanemuk and Pima-Papago, families held a ceremony to confirm a gender-non-conforming child’s identity. The child was presented with a bow and a basket. If the child chose an object that did not conform to their assigned gender at birth, they were recognized as two-spirited.

Sources:

Roscoe, Will. “Strange Country This: An Introduction to North American Gender Diversity,” Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America. St Martin’s Press, 1998, p15.

Dooley, John. “Two Spirits Rising.” Portland Mercury, 14 June 2001, https://www.portlandmercury.com/Queer/2001/06/14/24792/two-spirits-rising.

Conclusion

Acknowledging and affirming transgender children is not new or radical.

Read about traditional societies that recognize non-binary children.

Our communities can benefit from these positive time-tested values too.