The Indigenous Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Consultancy of British Columbia is a business and administration consultancy boutique. It is a sole proprietor business focused on policy, wellness, and research development for Indigenous gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender human rights.

What does it mean to be gay?

Who defines for everybody else what gay is? Do people that don’t know me define who Indigenous Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) people are? I would like to limit the scope of this topic by focusing on my personal understanding of who identifies as an Indigenous GLBT person.

As a feminist I would like to locate my understanding based on my lived experience. I identify as a gay man. I am part of the Indigenous population of Canada. I am from the Coast Salish Nation located around the Central Vancouver Island area of British Columbia. Traditional Coast Salish territory extends from the Campbell River area on northern Vancouver Island to Victoria on the southern end of Vancouver Island. Mainland Vancouver is home to Coast Salish territory that extends from the Fraser River area down into Seattle. East of Vancouver Coast Salish territory transitions into Interior Salish territory. Vancouver Island is also home to two other First Nations, the Nuu-chah-nulth and the Kwakwaka’wakw.

Within the Coast Salish nation I am from the Penelakut Tribes. The main reserve for the Penelakut Tribes is located on Penelakut Island. The other reserve locations are on Tussie Road near Crofton, and on the northern end of Galiano Island. The traditional language is Hul’qumi’num. A treaty does not govern the Penelakut Tribes because the tribes have not signed a treaty with the Federal Government of Canada or the Province of British Columbia.

During the summer of 2011 I also discovered that I have ancestry from the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation. In short I am a member of three different nations: the Coast Salish Nation, the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation, and Canada. Each nation has its own method of identifying membership. In the part of my identity that is First Nations it is impossible to move out from a central location of power.

As I come to try and understand my identity as a First Nations man it really feels like moving through different galaxies in the universe. Each galaxy is filled with constellations of origin stories. Every time someone gifts me with a story that helps me understand where I come from, that story can help me understand where I am going. Origin stories can help me understand how to develop relationships within my family, community, and most importantly these stories will allude to the layered protocols for political discourse between tribes and nations.


As I move through the constellation of identity development the solar system of GLBT gravitates into alignment. The acronym GLBT is gradually becoming a politically incorrect term that inadequately describes the increasingly diversified gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender population. I choose to use GLBT as a catalyst for discussion but leave the possibility for the definition to expand with the contribution from others. Gay has been typically used to describe the relationships between men who are attracted to other men. Lesbian has been typically used to describe the same-sex relationships between women. Bisexual has been used to acknowledge that one person can be attracted to both men and women.

The capital T in GLBT has had a history fraught with uncertainty. Transgender infers transition from male to female, or female to male, but with nuanced transformations. Men/women can transition into the opposite gender with a variety of intentions. Drag Queens (Men who transition into women) and Drag Kings (Women who transition into men) do so strictly with the intention of performing for an audience. Drag Kings and Queens may be gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Transvestite implies that a man or women enjoys dressing up in the clothes of the opposite gender, but do not do so for performance purposes. Transvestites may or may not be attracted to the same sex. Transsexual includes medical procedures where a man or women feels like they were born into the wrong sex, and undergo a medical operation to remove and adjust sexual organs. Some people may be Trans-Queer. Trans-queer is when a man or woman has gone through a transsexual medical procedure, and are attracted to the same sex.

GLBT may sometimes be represented as GLBT2, which stands for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and two-spirited. This acronym was developed to better reflect gender identity options for Indigenous men and women. Two-spirit people are generally understood to be when a man or woman feels like they possess the spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional characteristics of both men and women. Tribes that acknowledged two-spirited community members had different methods of helping the individual to choose male or female roles in community, but today two-spirit people move through a variety of communities, and can transition between male and female or both to participate in community development.

So defining who is gay can more than when a boy simply kisses another boy, maybe that boy likes to kiss girls too? I am a gay First Nations man from the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw Nations. I live in Canada. I am a feminist, and I am an academic focused on advocating for the rights of Indigenous GLBT people. I am doing so by being among the first to write educational material written by and for other Indigenous GLBT people. I am not simply gay; I live in the reality of three culturally and politically diverse nations, which provision me with the capacity to simultaneously navigate diverse cultural and political demands in a variety of environments.

For ten years I have been learning how to advocate for First Nations rights, but having no idea that there were so few Indigenous GLBT people advocating for Indigenous GLBT human rights. Don’t get me wrong; Non-Indigenous GLBT people have made great advancements for GLBT human rights, but why is there an absence of Indigenous GLBT role models? I want to see more Indigenous role models making contributions to policy, wellness, and research development. I know I’m not the only one of my kind on Vancouver Island, but it sure feels like it some times. I believe Indigenous GLBT people possess the capacity for life-changing political reforms. It is only a matter of creating safe-spaces for these contributions to happen.