Same-Sex Marriage Prompts Cherokees to Bar Recurrence

[Rose Siding]

TULSA, Aug. 21 -- About a month after a lesbian couple successfully filed for a tribal marriage application, the Cherokee National Tribal Council voted to clearly define marriage as between a man and a woman.

Principal Chief Chad Smith has indicated he will sign the measure, which was approved by the council last Monday.

The change in tribal marriage law will not affect Kathy Reynolds and Dawn McKinley, who were married last month in a Cherokee ceremony. Cherokee Nation laws are not retroactive.

A Cherokee Nation District Court has scheduled a hearing Friday to discuss a legal protest against the marriage application of McKinley and Reynolds. The outcome of that hearing will determine whether their union is legal.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22538-2004Aug21.html

[dorktv]

1. This is awful. There is no reason not to allow two people

who love each to marry!

[many a good man]

2. Lots of Christian Right Wingers among American Indian Leadership

Presents an interesting legal quandary, though, doesn't it? Has US law ever had to rule on the legality of a same sex marriage performed in a foreign (sovereign) nation?

[krkaufman]

3. It all depends on....

... what you mean by "sovereign", eh?

[mitchtv]

4. the chief can go Cheney himself

when the rapture comes, can I have his car?

[DeadHead67]

5. I thought same-sex relationships had a place in Native. . . .

. . .American culture, historically. And about that 'rapture' thing the literalists are so gone on, it's really only mentioned briefly in the Bible, and NOT referred to as 'The Rapture'. . .

[Behind the Aegis]

6. that is sometimes the case

Same-sex relationships do have a place in some Native American societies. However, with the influence of Christianity and "white man's law," the influence has created a less tolerant view of gays and lesbians.

Brightest Blessings!