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Giago: Gays were highly respected by Sioux Nation
Monday, September 22, 2003
"The "wapetokeca" were men who lived in a woman's body or women who lived in a man's body.
They were highly respected by the men and women of the Great Sioux Nation.
The modern world has changed that view amongst many contemporary Lakota and the beliefs about donating one's organs may also change. Modern society has made homosexuals out to be bad and the stigma has passed to the younger generation.
Those Indians who served in the military learned that to be "winkte" was to be ostracized, ridiculed and eventually discharged from the military with a dishonorable or a medical discharge. They brought this bit of brainwashing back to their homes on the Indian reservations."
Get the Story:
Indian Country Copes With Issues Of Organ Donations, Homosexuality
(The Yankton Press and Dakotan 9/18)
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