“A Hope to Lift Both My Spirits”: Preventing Bisexual Erasure in Aboriginal Schools

Abstract

Education is a treaty right for Aboriginal people in Canada and the United States, and Aboriginal schools aim to provide a comprehensive education rooted in indigenous knowledge and culture. In an Aboriginal context, antibullying programs may address microaggressions against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and two-spirited youth. Two-spirited identity offers a model of sexuality that may reduce youth suicide by providing a sense of cultural belonging and purpose for sexual and gender minority Aboriginal people. Yet even as it offers social support, the two-spirited identity model risks replicating the dichotomous constructions of sexuality that form the basis of bisexual erasure. This article discusses strategies for preventing such erasure within Aboriginal schools.