Just be who you are, two-spirit lawyer encourages
SYDNEY RIVER — Tuma Young, a two-spirit male lawyer, has spent his entire life fighting for space. Young has no preferred pronoun but the closest thing is nekem, which translates in English to “that person.” Two-spirit is an Indigenous person that imbues both masculine and feminine spirits.
“Just be who you are,” Young said.
Young is L’nu from Malagawatch and says the Mi’kmaw language is verbbased and has very few pronouns so language speakers switching to English may struggle to find the right one.
Being out and proud in the community in his early life was thought of as dangerous.
“As a result of being myself, out and proud, I hope and I believe that I’ve changed people’s minds and attitudes,” said the 54-year-old.
Young describes Malagawatch, his hometown, as a sand bar that didn’t offer many amenities, so their family also grew up in Eskasoni First Nation where Young is a registered member.
Young remembers identifying with the sitcom character Jodie from “Soap,” known as the first openly gay character on television. But as Young got older, they thought they were alone.
Young had an older brother named Herman who was gay, but their father warned Herman it wouldn’t be safe for him. So, Herman moved to the United States leaving Young not knowing of any other gay people until he travelled to Halifax.
“I went to Halifax to try and (meet) likeminded people,” said Young.
Dressed in all black with blonde hair and blue streaks, a self-described Goth punk, Young found his place at Rumors, a gay night club. Then Young discovered other gay Mi’kmaq and Wolastoq youth at the Mi’kmaq friendship centre and found his sense of place.
“I was so energized meeting other gay youth,” Young said.
Now Young is helping to create a two-spirit place in every Indigenous community in Wabanaki, through the Wabanaki Two-Spirit Alliance. The space is to help 2SLBTQ people in communities know that they belong and have a circle of networks to reach out to. And to have advocates speak up to lateral violence.
Young remembers having to correct an elder who was teaching that gay and lesbians needed to sweat out those gay feelings. And Young told the elder they knew who they was and what the elder was teaching was wrong.
“Two-spirit people are traditional,” said Young.
Young believes through residential schools and colonization the two-spirit history was ignored. Young is an Indian day school survivor and says that experience forced them all to grow up too quickly. The system robbed them all of their childhood.
“We had to learn to survive,” said Young.
As a lawyer, Young works on a multitude of initiatives, mainly estates and will law, but is also working with a group of Mi’kmaq lawyers, called Eastern Door. They’re trying to modernize Mi’kmaq law practices. As a group, they’re researching old laws, language, ceremonies, songs and bringing them into a contemporary setting. They call the practice Maliamsultiek, which in English means, “we take care of ourselves.”
Young said it’s been proven just putting brown bodies in colonial structures doesn’t work so the group is envisioning a Mi’kmaq-led governance system and a Mi’kmaq-led child services system.