Tag: Native Voices
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Raising a Transgender Child in Rural Alaska: An Alaska Native Mother’s Story of Hardship and Hope
Book sneak preview: In rural Alaska, an Alaska Native mother fights for her transgender son’s safety, childhood, and future. Facing bullying, isolation, and community loss, she chooses strategically concealed visibility and unconditional support of her child. This intimate story reminds us why this work is important, as it explores resilience, Indigenous values, and the power…
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Alberta’s Divided Heart: Queer Life in the “Texas of Canada”
Edmonton, Alberta — sometimes called the “Texas of Canada” — is a place of contrasts for 2SLGBTQ+ and Indigenous communities. On my latest road trip, I explored the complexities of queer life in this Prairie city: from threats and protests to the resilience of transgender-owned businesses and queer joy in unexpected spaces. As Canada reckons…
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Inside Fairbanks, Alaska: Queer Histories, Off-Grid Living, and a Moose/Car Collision
Fairbanks is a city of contradictions—military and tourism-driven, yet brimming with underground art and Native culture; a hub of environmental research with some of the worst air quality in the country; home to burlesque fire dancers and centuries-old queer identities reclaimed by Alaska Native people. In this post, I reflect on the wild beauty, culture…
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Queer and Indigenous in Bethel (Mamterilleq): Stories of Visibility, Silence, and Survival on the Edge of Alaska
Bethel, Alaska—a remote Yu’pik-majority town nestled deep in the Yukon Delta—reveals the complexities of queer life at the intersections of culture, colonization, and climate change. In this reflection from “All the Genders” photo project, I share what I learned from queer locals and allies navigating visibility in a place where identity often stays quiet for…