Hey, Scott. Glad I caught you.
"In many Native American tribes, homosexuality in both sexes was accepted as a fact of nature and the homosexual berdache accorded a wide-ranging array of sacred and practical powers and given great respect. Many berdaches cross-dressed, and so inhabited, with social approval, a region "between" the sexes. By all indications, the berdache role was an ancient one, and the respect given to it may well echo an ancient tolerance of variety in human nature that patriarchal cultures have lost. Certain ethnologists believe that some form of berdache practices, such as cross-dressing and homosexual relations by shamans, existed among the ancient Siberians who began migrating from Asia to North America thirty-thousand years ago."
"In such tribes, berdaches played an integral role in the life of the people. They were the ones who gave sacred names, who cut down the Sun Dance pole in the central sacred rituals, who foretold future events. They were famous for their bead and quill work, hide-tanning abilities, and extravagant fancy dress (not all berdaches dressed in women's clothes; it depended on their vision). They were considered good luck to take along on a war party or horse-stealing raid. Many were married as second or third wives to warriors; some became the wives of chiefs. Often berdaches would live together in a group of teepees on the outer edge of the camp, where they would exercise their many roles as doctors, storytellers, matchmakers, and leading scalp dancers. Different names were given to the berdache by different tribes. The Sauk and Fox tribes called the berdache i-coo-coa; the Ojibway (Chippewa) named him agokwa, the Cheyenne called him hee-man-eh; and the Sioux, winkte."
Some interesting berdaches you might want to look into include We'wa (1849-1896) of the Zuni tribe, Hasteen Klah (1867-1937) of the Navajo tribe, and Maurice Kenny (b. 1929) of the Mohawk tribe.