Palopa
Palopa
Third gender in Papua New Guinea
Palopa is a term used in Papua New Guinea and the diaspora as a non-heteronormative term for people who may identify in Western nomenclature as either gay, transsexual, or having a third gender role.[1][2][3][4] LGBTQ+ activist Clint Woolly has described how Western terminology is stigmatised by many in Papua New Guinea, and that indigenous descriptors, such as palopa, should be adopted and adapted. For the Sambian people, the phrase kwolu-aatmwol describes a third gender identity.[5] Terminology is also borrowed from other Pacific communities, for example the term 'sister-girl' from Torres Strait Islanders.[6]