While stories of the Culhua-Mexica (located in modern-day Mexico) are primarily told from the perspective of colonists, we know that the Mexica was a vast empire, with varying attitudes towards homosexuality depending on the region. It is widely believed that anti-sodomy laws were used by conquerors to separate the people from their native cultures and religions. However, we know that queer and two-spirit people were prevalent pre-colonisation thanks to the writings of conquistador Hernan Cortés about the indigenous people he interacted with. At one point, he wrote to the king, “We know and have been informed without room for doubt that all practice the abominable sin of sodomy.”

An image of natives convicted of sodomy being mauled in the street by conquistador war dogs. (Source: The Lone Women and Last Indians Digital Archive.)