The berdaches weren't an everyday occurrence, but they were sanctioned by the tribal mythology and given a role in society equal to any other. One popular role associated with berdaches was the matchmaker. Also discussed was the role that Hastin Klah, a Navajo medicine man who later began to cross over and weave pictures of sand paintings that only medicine men knew how to draw. He took the male specific role of medicine man and combined it with the female role of weaving, creating something new and different. The modern society hasn't changed the roles much.
Women still run the families.
They still have a tremendous say in what goes on. While the men may organize the sun dance in the Cheyenne society, the women dance along with them. The females have a separate role, but it was an equal one. McCoy is on a steering committee for ethnic and gender studies. He said he gave the lecture because he thought it was a topic that nobody had heard before and might be of interest.