Ma-Nee Chacaby (intro in Anishnaabemowin) My name is Ma-Nee Chacaby. When I was born, and I was about four years old, my grandmother told me I was a two-spirit person, child. I was to a spirit child and that I had... I was gonna have a hard life when I grow up. But I didn't know what that meant. I never knew what 'Two Spirit' meant. Just even that word, until I got older and older but I knew I was different and When they tried to dress me up in a little girl clothes, I couldn't stand the little girl clothes. Nobody told me that, I just didn't want to be one of those people... once I got older and I understood what two-spirit people was I thought to myself, holy cow, how am I gonna ever overcome that? I was about ten years old when I discovered my own sexuality I liked girls But then when I was about sixteen, when I asked, just before I was sixteen, I asked my grandmother What did she mean by (word in Anishnaabe language) And that's 'two spirited'. Two spirit itself didn't come till later for me But (Anishnaabe word) came early because I knew what that meant So I asked my grandmother what that what does that mean for me? And she told me oh my granddaughter Yeah, I think you're gonna have a hard life. I don't know what's gonna happen to you, she said. Yeah, because of your life because of who you are People are so different now things are happening things are coming in here You could see that, she said. And you're gonna have to try all kinds of churches if you want She says, if you want to do that, just to see where you fit in, if you don't fit, you know, at least you tried. And she said, and it won't hurt you to go there if you go to church once just discover something take one or line or two lines from it and learn from it, she said. The god's in here. She lives inside of you or he lives inside of you, she said. And that's who you are, she said. (Anishnaabe word), you have two of them that lives inside of you, a male side and a female side, and you're gonna have a hard life, and you have to listen to your heart and your mind, and your tummy. When all that comes together But true road is your journey, she said. You're born with two spirits and you will know when you're born with that, because you'll know when you're born, when you'll know you're different That's when you know who you really are And one of the things you can do is ignore it and not pay attention to it Or you can just start accepting that part of you and start learning from it And then being two-spirit it's We were born that way I mean way back like my grandmother used to say way back seven generations after seven generations. She's been told that two-spirit people exist with The First Nations people and they did not say, 'Oh, you two, you're living together, shame on you' they didn't say that, she said, they loved each other and and the rules of two-spirit people had rules. Their rules was never to let the fire go out in the village and then the other the other one was To learn things from the other elders. Elders would take on take on the two-spirit person, and teach them how to be in this, what what they should learn about which one is going to be a medicine person, which one's going to be a healer which one I was going to be the one, the visionary person, and then which one was going to be the one that's bringing messages from the great spirit when they go out and they're back to mother's womb and stuff like that. And also just those were our jobs. We were supposed to learn everything What other people were learning. And our duties was to do those things and then they were regarded, you know, very highly before. They were, they they were accepted as special people With gifts. And they didn't make fun of them, because some of them would be the parents of the kids that was, didn't have no parents. So my message to all the two-spirit people or the ones I feel like they are. Your job is to look after yourself and then look after other people and don't let anybody tell you different. I don't let anybody tell me that anymore. I don't let anybody tell me... I'm proud of who I am. I don't care what they think of me. The no million dollars is gonna convince me I'm not a two-spirit person.