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As mentioned before, the term Two Spirit is an "invention" of the 20th century. It was officially recognized in the late summer of 1990, at the intertribal International Two Spirit Gathering in Winnipeg, Canada; by Native people who identified themselves as gays, lesbians, bisexual, transgender (or anything else that does not fit these terms) and wanted a closer connection to their tribal communities and American Indian heritage.
According to Two Spirit organizer Richard LaFortune, the use and adaptation of the term Two Spirit reflects the fact that people "cannot distill a term like 'gay' into one word out of 200 languages," but if they use the term Two Spirit in English, "it is something that people can wrap their heads around, understand, and respect" (Two Spirits).