Was Lozen a Lesbian?

Image that many sources, including Roscoe (1998), claim contains Lozen. The identity of the woman in this photograph is disputed by some. See Moore (2001) for an analysis. 

Citing Opler (1941:415-16), Roscoe (1998) claims that "Lozen was a female berdache" who "had sexual relations" with Dahteste: 

An interesting case is that of the Chiricahua Apache "Woman Warrior" named Lozen, or Little Sister. The sister (or cousin) of Victorio, the famous Warm Springs chief, she received the power to heal wounds and locate the enemy as a result of a vision quest undertaken when she was a young woman. This made her invaluable on raiding and war panies. Her skills in riding, fighting, roping, and stealing horses and her bravery were legendary. Victorio reponedly said, "Lozen is as my right hand. Strong as a man, braver than most, and cunning in strategy, Lozen is a shield to her people."l04

 When Victorio died in battle in 1880, Lozen joined Geronimo's band and fought with him until his surrender in 1886. On more than one occasion she played a role as a mediator in negotiations with the army, together with a woman named Dahteste (Tah-des-te). Although Dahteste was married, she and Lozen appear to have been panners at this time and during the band's captivity in Florida and then in Alabama (when Dahteste's husband left her). In a photograph of the Chiricahuas shortly after their capture, Lozen and Dahteste appear huddled together holding hands. Anthropologist Morris Opler was told, "They say that there were two women at Fort Sill who lived together and had sexual relations together." These were undoubtedly Lozen and Dahteste, although Lozen died in Alabama in June 1889, before the group was moved to Fort Sill. Dahteste later remarried but mourned Lozen's death the rest of her life.105

Lozen has received the same romanticized and heterosexualized treatment as Running Eagle and Woman Chief. Improbable tales are told of unrequited love and a vow never to marry.l06 The verifiable facts of her life support the conclusion that Lozen was a female berdache. 

Is it true that Lozen's life history was "heterosexualized", or that Roscoe (1998) has "homosexualized" her biography? 

The full context from Opler (1941:415-16):

SEXUAL ABBERATIONS

According to an informant, "homosexuality is forbidden. The person who does this is considered a witch and is killed." Yet there is a suggestion of the violation of the canon in another statement. "I have never heard of two men having sexual relations together. I've heard about women doing it and about boys doing it to each other, but not older men."

One story of Lesbianism continually goes the rounds. "They say that there were two women at Fort Sill who lived together and had sexual relations together. They say someone once heard one of them ask the other, 'Is it sticky?'" Another informant who mentioned this incident placed it in the distant past:

    I never heard of male homosexuality. I have, however, heard of Lesbianism. There was a case a long time ago, and the old men used to talk about it. There were two married women who ran off from their husbands and made a camp together for themselves. The people went to their camp and heard the two women talking. One was on top of the other, and one asked the other if she felt something sticky. The answer was, "Yes."

    These women were laughed at and ridiculed. I don't know what they did after they were discovered, whether they recontinued to live together or not. I just heard the old people talk about this long ago.

    If I should see two women behaving like this, I would feel ashamed of them if they had relatives. But if the women didn't have close relatives, I wouldn't feel so ashamed of them. The difference is that women would bring shame to their relatives. The rest of the people might think they were so hard up they couldn't be married properly.

There are a number of women who excel in activities commonly considered the interests of men. Two such women, both now very old, were mentioned by several persons, and one in particular was singled out as a deviant from the ordinary feminine behavior pattern:

    Every now and then a woman would be expert with the bow and could make arrows and a bow. This is exceptional though. Two women here could do everything like a boy when they were young. D. could ride well, make a bow and arrows, and was a real athlete. She had been married. Her husband died just a few years ago. She has never had children, but her husband was married before and had two children by his first wife. 

These women, though they are more interested in masculine pursuits than the average woman, are not considered transvestites. All girls are urged to be strong and fast. It is simply accepted that these particular individuals have carried the requirement further than is strictly necessary. Their preoccupation with such things was confined primarily to their youth. They have married, have accepted the woman's role in all essentials, and in old age are not distinguishable in dress or behavior from others of their sex and years. The attitude of those discussing them is never one of ridicule or condemnation but rather one of admiration. 

True berdaches are rare, and their emergence is definitely discouraged. The last one of whom I have a record died before 1880:

    P. and S. had a brother who was like this. He never married. He died in Old Mexico. This man talked and walked like a woman, sewed clothes, and made moccasins. He didn't make baskets though. He went where the women were all the time. He hardly ever went where the men were playing at hoop and pole, and he himself never played it. Instead he played the stave game with the women. Such people were never treated with any great respect by us. We just laugh at them.

When the quote is placed in context, Roscoe's certainty about Lozen and Dahteste's sexual relationship is called into doubt. The evidence of a sexual relationship amounts to nothing more than a rumor, contradicted by the second informant. Because Lozen was held in high regard, it is more likely that she was a woman with masculine tendencies, but not a "berdache" or homosexual. Given the Apache's attitudes towards homosexuality, it is misguided to spread rumors about her being a lesbian. 

Further Reading

https://fcpp.org/2025/03/20/how-activists-rewrote-indigenous-history/ 

Related Blog Posts

Were the Mino/Ahosi Lesbians?

Noteworthy Case of Inuit "Amazons"

References

Moore, L. J. (2001). Lozen: An Apache Woman Warrior. Sifters: Native American Women’s Lives, 92-107.

Opler, M. E. [1941] 1991. An Apache Life-way: The economic, social and religious institutions of the Chiricahua Indians. Reprint. University of Nebraska Press. (79-80,415-16). 

Roscoe, W. (1998). Changing ones: third and fourth genders in Native North America. New York: St. Martin's Press.