The concept of gender-fluidity -- or “mahu” -- has existed in Hawaii for hundreds of years and is the hallmark of a culture that allows space between the concepts of male and female.
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. Despite these deep roots, mahu awareness in Hawaii has faded during centuries of foreign influence. Christian missionaries who first arrived in 1820 taught Hawaiians to shun anything deviating from clearly defined male and female roles. In 1893, businessmen backed by the U.S. government overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy and a few years later prohibited the teaching of Hawaiian language in schools. The U.S. annexed Hawaii in 1898, making it a territory.
Lawmakers overwhelmingly passed legislation enabling the state to replace marriage certificates for people who change their gender or sex. Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat, on Friday indicated he would either sign the bill or let it become law without his signature.
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Native Hawaiian drag queens in Las Vegas showcase islands' gender-fluid heritageThe concept of gender-fluidity -- or “mahu” -- has existed in Hawaii for hundreds of years and is the hallmark of a culture that allows space between the concepts of male and female. Now, as anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric inflames the country, Native Hawaiians are reminding modern generations of the respected place gender-fluidity holds in their culture while also making a foray into the national conversation about transgender rights. To raise awareness, Native Hawaiian drag queens performed in Las Vegas on Tuesday in a show called “Mahu Magic.” The drag show came on the sidelines of a Native Hawaiian convention and coincided with Pride month.
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