Despite being beaten and hospitalized, Ma-nee Chacaby says she’s never regretted coming out and being herself.
Chacaby, an elder from Ombabika First Nation, discovered that she was two spirited when she was about 10-years-old. It wasn’t until years later that she said she could come out publicly. When she finally did, she left her arranged marriage with her two children to live her life in Thunder Bay.
Living in her community, which is northwest of Lake Nipigon, Chacaby said she felt as if she was the only one who was different because she liked girls and not boys like she was supposed to.
“I thought I was weird,” she said. “I got beat up when I came out. I made a decision that from now on I was going to fight. I’ve been fighting all my life so I wasn’t about to give up.”
Chacaby was one of the keynote speakers at the Thunder Pride event held at the Spirit Garden at Prince Arthur’s Landing Sunday. Chacaby started the ceremony with a smudge and song before telling her story to a crowd of about 30 people.
She believes since she came out in the 80s, society has become more open towards how people feel.
“I see more native people coming out now,” she said. “I feel I opened the gateway for native people. I feel I paved the road for them because I was strong enough to come out. I was the only native girl to come out at that time. Before I think people thought that if they spent time with me, they would turn gay. It doesn’t work that way. You’re just born that way.”
Event co-ordinator Rachel Mishenene said she was pleased with the number of people who attended the ceremony and looked forward to this year’s festivities including the first local pride parade.
Mishenene said that the kickoff event was to celebrate the diversity within the community and among Aboriginals.
“I was so happy to see so many people from so many different walks of life coming to one place,” she said. “It’s a great representation of our community. Thunder Bay as the Respect campaign and Thunder Pride ties in nicely with that.”
For more information on upcoming Thunder Pride events visit the group’s website.
