A new petition
has been filed in a Cherokee Nation court challenging the
marriage of a lesbian couple less than one week after a
tribal court dismissed a lawsuit that had previously
questioned the legality of the couple's union. Kathy
Reynolds and Dawn McKinley enjoyed a short-lived
victory after a lawsuit, filed by a private citizen,
challenging their marriage was dismissed last
Wednesday by the tribe's judicial appeals tribunal.
The tribe's highest court ruled that Todd
Hembree, who filed the original suit, did not have
standing in the case and could not adequately prove he
would be harmed by the couple's marriage. On Friday a group
of tribal councillors filed a petition challenging the
couple's marriage license on the same grounds. The
petition is expected to be amended and refiled Tuesday.
One of the councillors who filed the lawsuit,
Linda O'Leary, claimed that necessity brought about
the petition. "We don't want gay marriages in the
Cherokee Nation. It's that simple," she said. "We do have
standing in this case because we're the ones who make the laws."
The Owasso, Okla., couple, both of whom are
Cherokee Nation citizens, are fighting to have their
marriage recognized by the tribe after other attempts
to file their license were rejected. The couple could
not be reached for comment Monday but said earlier that
their marriage is not infringing on the rights of
others within the tribe. Reynolds and McKinley have
been in the middle of a complex battle over tribal law
since they filed for a marriage certificate in May 2004. No
same-sex couple had ever filed for a license before, and the
certificate was granted in the absence of any laws
expressly forbidding its issuance. After a marriage
ceremony, the two returned twice to file their completed
paperwork but were turned away both times.
Tribal judicial officials soon called for a
moratorium on all marriage licenses, regardless of
sex. Before that ban ran out, Hembree sued the couple.
Cherokee councillors worked to clarify the
issue, unanimously agreeing to define marriage within
the Cherokee Nation as the union of a man and a
woman only. The act also outlawed adultery within Cherokee
Nation jurisdiction. Reynolds and McKinley filed for a
marriage certificate after determining that old
marriage laws did not specify gender. (AP)
