I think the attraction between man and woman is hard wired into the brain, and find it hard to believe that the hard wiring can't be plugged into a different socket, on occassion, no pun intended.
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Yeah, in some instances they seem to have received extra respect and been deemed "special." Go figure.
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Why would that be unusual. When someone are different than the typical member of society, it is not a stretch to feel this ties in with some difference in function and world outlook. And if you live in a world where the belief ties in with the land around you, with what you perceive as mysterious connections, then any mysterious person may also have special insight into this. Not hard to see them as uniquely equipped to connect you with the natural world, on which your tribe's livelihood then exists.
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Oh, I agree. I was saying "go figure" in light of continued stigmatization in American society. Of course, there are some stereotypical roles that gays and lesbians have been recognized as being particularly qualified for in American society, as well.
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Isn't this just a different form of stigmatization and discrimination then? Something akin to the "Magic Negro" or "Noble Savage" myth?
It's not a step toward seeing the homosexual as equal, integrated into society...
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Well, this was inside their communities. More like celebrities. And yes, the Native American societies were not particularly egalitarian, they had slaves, war executions etc.
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From what I've seen they were equal and even sometimes revered, though the reverence came with the position of medicine man itself, no matter who occupied it. There wasn't anything surreptitiously derogatory about it. I'm sure some people viewed the living arrangement as bizarre, but I think since so much of Native American spirituality was based on individualized experience, they seem to have been more open-minded toward these types of individualized personality expressions as well.
