Two Spirits
Fred Martinez was a Navajo boy who was also a girl. In an earlier era, he would have been revered. Instead, he was murdered.
Filmmaker Lydia Nibley explores the cultural context behind a tragic and senseless murder. Fred Martinez was a Navajo youth slain at the age of 16. But Fred was part of an honored Navajo tradition - the nadleeh, or 'two-spirit,' who possesses a balance of masculine and feminine traits. In relating Fred's story, Nibley reminds us of the values that America's indigenous peoples have long embraced.