Long heritage of Native Hawaiian gender-fluidity showcased in Las Vegas drag show

Kiana Jacobs waves to the crowd after performing in the Mahu Magic drag show at the Western Regional Native Hawaiian Convention, Tuesday, June 20, 2023, in Las Vegas. – Drag queens donning the white, red and blue of the Hawaiian flag shimmied across the stage to a throbbing techno remix of “Aloha Oe,” a song composed by Hawaii's last reigning monarch. Spectators roared as a performer shook her hips in a Tahitian-style dance.

“It is meant to reinstate the rightful place that mahu have between kane and wahine,” Wong-Kalu said, using the Hawaiian words for man and woman. The crowd erupted in raucous cheers and applause. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re coming from male to female or female to the male, and it doesn’t matter what your physical articulation is,” Wong-Kalu said. “We have elements of both. Sometimes we completely walk away from one and walk to the other. Sometimes we stay in the middle.”

“Unless we do something to honor, to recognize who we are, we’re going to lose our identity,” Lewis said. Mahu often have had important roles in Native Hawaiian culture as teachers, healers and keepers of knowledge and traditions.who visited Waikiki from Tahiti more than 500 years ago. Hawaiians placed four boulders on the beach to honor them, which are still visible today.

Republican lawmakers introduced a bill at the Hawaii Legislature this year that would have required “separate sex-specific athletic teams or sports” in schools. The measure didn't get a hearing in either the House or Senate, which are both dominated by Democrats.

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