How did Indigenous peoples feel about non-hetero individuals? Were any nomadic?

The issue here becomes differentiating between pre-contact views and post-contact views, which is exceptionally difficult. Without a lot of pre-contact sources, generally what we have are either European accounts or accounts influenced by European biases. This generally gives the impression that while non-hetero sexualities existed, they were frowned upon or demonized as they were in European societies.

This becomes even more difficult because later indigenous writers also became influenced by European morality, and this effected their view as well, even as they tried to keep a traditional world view.

It’s also has to be recognized that there wasn’t just one view either, which is often a trap some fall into.

So, with that said, we can be certain their were non-hetero individuals. We do have records of that. Europeans did write about such, but generally it came off as either apologetics or accusatory, which makes it nearly impossible to distinguish what reality was.

The people of Mexica, the Aztec Empire, appeared to be intolerant. Others, like the Mayans, seemed to have a connection between non-heterosexuality and ritual. So they were associated, often, with shamans.

There were a number of tribes that were either sedentary or partially sedentary. The Anasazis, in the Southwest is a great example. Pueblo Bonita in Chaco Canyon, in present day New Mexico, was home to a very large non-nomadic tribe. At its height, it’s population was over 5,000. And that was just the central city for the area. The city’s downfall was that its inhabitants committed what is called ecocide, where they destroyed the environment in which they lived, to the point where it was virtually uninhabitable.

The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes of North Dakota are also a great example. Each built substantial towns and cities along the Missouri River. Because of this, they served as a major trade center for North America. It was with these tribes that Lewis and Clark would stay a winter with, and really get a lot of help for completing their expedition. It was also with these tribes, since they were largely agricultural, that many nomadic tribes came to in times of need and to trade.

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