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Native American Tribe Recognizes Gay Marriage

A Native American tribe in Oregon will counter the surrounding state's laws by recognizing same-sex marriages, The [Portland]Oregonian reported Wednesday.


A Native American tribe in Oregon will counter the surrounding state's laws by recognizing same-sex marriages, The [Portland] Oregonian reported Wednesday.

The Coquille Indian Tribe, located on the southern Oregon coast, is a federally sovereign nation, placing it outside Oregon's constitutional jurisdiction. For a same-sex marriage to be recognized, at least one of the partners must be a Coquille. The tribe's recognition of gay marriages would violate the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits federal government recognition of same-sex marriages, according to Brian Gilley, an author and anthropology professor at the University of Vermont. The federal government could challenge the Coquille law, testing the limits of tribal independence and sovereignty.

Many Native American tribes have allowed same-sex relationships historically, Gilley said. However, he told TheOregonian, the Coquilles are probably the first tribe in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage. After a lesbian couple married under an ambiguous Cherokee law in 2005, the tribe banned same-sex marriages, followed by the Navajos, the nation's largest tribe. (The Advocate)

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Reader Comments
  • Name: Terre
    Date posted: 8/22/2008 2:05:00 PM
    Hometown: San Luis Obispo

    Comment:

    The Cherokee and Navajo nations have ignored their culture's traditional acceptance (and in some tribes reverence) of gay people, and went with the prevailing attitudes and norms of the culture that took their lands and forced them onto reservations. So glad to see the Coquilles honoring their traditional cultural values towards 'two-spirit' people.

  • Name: Lucinda Pyatt
    Date posted: 8/22/2008 11:24:00 AM
    Hometown: Columbus, OH

    Comment:

    The indigenous people of the world have a lot to teach us about living in harmony. This is just one example of their model for creating a just world.



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