Among Indian trib, a divisn over gay marriage - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• A LIST OF NATIVE AMERIN TRIBAL LAWS BANNG GAY MARRIAGE
• THE SURPRISG HISTORY OF GAY MARRIAGE THE NAVAJO NATN
• A LIST OF NATIVE AMERIN TRIBAL LAWS BANNG GAY MARRIAGE
• OKLAHOMA TRIBE APPROV GAY MARRIAGE AS NATIVE AMERIN GROUPS BATE ISSUE
• OKLAHOMA TRIBE APPROV GAY MARRIAGE AS NATIVE AMERIN GROUPS BATE ISSUE
• OKLAHOMA TRIBE APPROV GAY MARRIAGE AS NATIVE AMERIN GROUPS BATE ISSUE
• CHEROKE' GAY-MARRIAGE LAW IS TRADNAL
• A GAY MARRIAGE LOOPHOLE FOR NATIVE AMERINS
• AMONG THE NAVAJOS, A RENEWED DEBATE ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE
• AMONG INDIAN TRIB, A DIVISN OVER GAY MARRIAGE
• AMONG THE NAVAJOS, A RENEWED DEBATE ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE
• AMONG INDIAN TRIB, A DIVISN OVER GAY MARRIAGE
• MORE THAN JT THE “GAY INDIANS”
• FOR NATIVE AMERINS, FIGHT FOR GAY MARRIAGE ISN'T OVER
• NATIVE AMERIN TRIB CHALLENGE OKLAHOMA GAY MARRIAGE BAN

A LIST OF NATIVE AMERIN TRIBAL LAWS BANNG GAY MARRIAGE

BPR looked to how wispread the bans are Native Amerin Tribal ernments across the Uned Stat:The digeno muny has been volved LGBTQ+ rights for s - even before the historic 1987 March on Washgton for Gay Rights. Before was two-spir we were jt native gays and lbians. And a lot of those homophobic attus, a lot of that trma still travels down tergeneratnally and that’s what we are seeg happen on uncil, ” said Cooper.

Borrs: the Navajo Pulls a CharlottvilleBut unlike those the 50 stat, Native Amerins who support gay marriage—a aln of LGBT Navajo, their alli, and even the leadg ndidate nng for the Navajo princy—have history on their Navajos have a rich, documented history of acceptg and even honorg people that intified wh different genrs and sexual fact, as recently as 10 years ago, same-sex unns were regnized by the Navajos. “We were regnizg same-sex unns between a man and a man and a woman and a woman long before whe people me on to this land, ” Alray Nelson, lead anizer at the Coaln for Navajo Equaly, a lol muny group workg to end the ban on gay marriage, told changed 2005, when, followg the footsteps of the U. Two-spir dividuals who intify wh male and female spirs make some of the same pots Nelson mak: before lonizatn Native Amerins honored those that didn’t f to the tradnal genr the activists are succsful and ph the Navajo Natn to lift the ban on gay marriage, uld have a sweepg effect.

Unofficial rults of Monday’s special electn the Osage Natn northern Oklahoma showed 52 percent approved a referendum amendg the fn of marriage the tribe’s legal to clu same-sex upl, officials said this vote allows the tribe’s judicial branch to issue marriage licens to gay and lbian upl. “I know that for a lot of people was a ntroversial issue, but for me, was not, ” said Osage legislator Alice Buffalohead, the measure’s opposn to the measure did not emerge, but some the tribe felt allowg gay marriage would unrme the tribe’s cultural Osage jo a handful of other proment trib that nduct or regnize same-sex marriag, cludg the Cherokee Natn and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Trib. Most of those trib adopted the measure around the time of the Supreme Court cisn or experts said gay marriage was also beg nsired by a number of other Osage vote was about two years the makg, wh the measure to make the change tribal law g a few months before the 2015 Supreme Court cisn and wdg s way through the tribal ernment before was put up for a referendum.

THE SURPRISG HISTORY OF GAY MARRIAGE THE NAVAJO NATN

Bure of Indian Affairs to provi the Gray, an Osage llege stunt behd the Osage Cizens for Marriage Equaly Facebook activist group, said the vote the Osage Natn this week would help lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people know that the tribe accepts them. The vote allows the tribe's judicial branch to issue marriage licens to gay and lbian upl. Formal opposn to the measure did not emerge, but some the tribe felt allowg gay marriage would unrme the tribe's cultural herage.

Legal experts said gay marriage was also beg nsired by a number of other trib. Henry Gray, an Osage llege stunt behd the Osage Cizens for Marriage Equaly Facebook activist group, said the vote the Osage Natn this week would help lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people know that the tribe accepts them. Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 gay-marriage cisn, Obergefell v.

But s judgment reli part on evince of historil regnn of same-sex relatnships among Cheroke -- a basis for ntemporary gay rights that is different om, and some ways eper than, the equaly and digny ratnal that the Supreme Court history of how trib have been treated their teractn wh the U.

A LIST OF NATIVE AMERIN TRIBAL LAWS BANNG GAY MARRIAGE

And subject to ngrsnal ntrol some rpects, but entled to exercise NextCheroke' Gay-Marriage Law Is Tradnal. 31, the pair did somethg few gay upl Oklahoma have done: they got married. Oklahoma is one of 35 stat that bans gay marriage.

OKLAHOMA TRIBE APPROV GAY MARRIAGE AS NATIVE AMERIN GROUPS BATE ISSUE

“Legally we jt don’t have any laws that prohib gay marriage, ” says Amber Bighorse, litenant ernor for the Cheyenne Arapaho.

OKLAHOMA TRIBE APPROV GAY MARRIAGE AS NATIVE AMERIN GROUPS BATE ISSUE

Pickel, a 36-year-old studyg to bee a mortician, and Black Bear, a 45-year-old florist, are the third gay uple to be married through a license om the Cheyenne Arapaho, and the first to go public. The Cheyenne Arapaho is one of jt seven of the 566 ferally-regnized trib have specifilly approved gay marriage. Two trib Michigan, which has a state ban on gay marriage, approved same-sex marriage this year.

OKLAHOMA TRIBE APPROV GAY MARRIAGE AS NATIVE AMERIN GROUPS BATE ISSUE

“The folks are rpondg to the GLBTQ mand for human rights, equaly, and they are basilly reachg back to ancient history of their particular culture’s oral tradn, anthropologil tradn, historic documentatn of settlers, to say, ok, this is, fact, a basic human right our culture, ” says Brian Gilley, a profsor of anthropology at Indiana Universy and thor of Beg Two-Spir: Gay Inty and Social Acceptance Indian Country. While tribal marriage licens are an optn for some gay upl, they are unlikely to lead to a legal challenge of state bans.

The relatively small size of the trib allowg gay marriage also lims their larger effect. ” They were married on March 15, right after the signg ceremony, and beme the first gay uple livg Michigan to be legally married. Print Obama ved them to the Whe Hoe this summer for a Lbian Gay Bisexual and Transgenr Pri Month receptn.

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTViotranscripttranscriptNavajo Natn’s Gay Marriage ControversyAlray Nelson is an outspoken opponent of the tribal law that bans same-sex marriage. — Tradn reigns here on the Navajo rervatn, where the words of elrs are treated as gospel and many people still live or pray circular dwellgs lled natnal bate over gay marriage, however, is promptg some Navajos to re-exame a 2005 tribal law lled the De Marriage Act, which prohibs same-sex unns on the rervatn. Shirley, 67, said of gay Navajos a slow, grandfatherly tone durg an terview.

CHEROKE' GAY-MARRIAGE LAW IS TRADNAL

”A send printial ntenr, Chris Dchene, 43, who was disqualified om nng but might be able to get back to the race, said he was "most likely" to support gay Navajo tradnalists, however, the rapid refn of marriage stat around the untry has ma the 2005 tribal law more important than ever. “It’s not for , ” Otto Tso, a Navajo legislator and medice man om the wtern edge of the rervatn, said of gay marriage.

”“I do rpect gay people, ” he ntued, but as far as permtg same-sex unns, “I would fely wa on that.

”The Uned Stat Supreme Court is expected to ci this year whether stat n prohib same-sex marriag, a move wh the potential to lead to the legalizatn of gay unns all 50 stat.

A GAY MARRIAGE LOOPHOLE FOR NATIVE AMERINS

But the lg would not apply to the Navajo Natn, bee the untry’s 566 trib are sovereign Almeida/The New York TimLeadg the charge for gay marriage here is Alray Nelson, 29, a top ai to Mr.

But some gay Navajos, he said, have not joed the aln for fear they will be gay tribal cizens say they support same-sex marriage but do not nsir marriage rights a prry, potg out that many gay Navajos suffer om dg abe and bilatg the ills, said Jeremy Yazzie, 33, who unsels gay and transgenr Navajos, is far more important. “Everyone is worried about repealg the gay marriage act, ” Mr. At least 10 have affirmed the right of gay upl to marry unr tribal law, sometim dog so ahead of the state which the tribe is Almeida/The New York TimIn 2009, the Coquille tribe Oregon beme the first Native Amerin natn to regnize same-sex marriag, though the Oregon Constutn still prohibed such unns.

Central to the bate over same-sex marriage is the qutn of the role that gay people have played Navajo history. Several historians, cludg Jennifer Dedale, a member of the Navajo Natn Human Rights Commissn and a profsor at the Universy of New Mexi, assert that gay and transgenr people have long been part of tribal society, typilly holdg posns of great an amic paper about the De Marriage Act, she reunted a tradnal tale which First Woman and First Man argue and set up mp on separate sis of a river, each acpanied by other members of their sex. Dedale opponents of gay marriage ce their attachment to lol church — which hold powerful sway here — as a reason to keep the De Marriage Act on the books.

AMONG THE NAVAJOS, A RENEWED DEBATE ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE

He said he uld not image his ngregants favorg gay marriage.

BTo said of gay marriage. ”Her client, Julie Begaye, 54, lifted her head out of the sk, shakg her wet locks.

AMONG INDIAN TRIB, A DIVISN OVER GAY MARRIAGE

There are 566, not we handle rrectnsA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 14 of the New York edn wh the headle: Among the Navajos, a Renewed Debate About Gay Marriage. June is Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, and Queer Pri Month the Uned Stat. Native natns are siar to other world populatns the mographic reprentatn of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr dividuals.

AMONG THE NAVAJOS, A RENEWED DEBATE ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE

Adopted as part of the morn pan-Indian vobulary 1990 durg the third annual ter-tribal Native Amerin/First Natns Gay and Lbian Amerin Conference, Wnipeg, Manoba, refers to dividuals who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgenr, transsexual, or genr-fluid. For our pri observance this year, the mm asked our Native iends, “How did your tribe tradnally view dividuals who are lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr? My grandmother, the late Lucy Lewis, had gay and lbian iends.

She figured she’d never have a legal spoe to help wh the backbreakg Purser, a member of Washgton state’s Suquamish Tribe who says she knew she was gay at age 7, cid to act: She led a personal lobbyg mpaign that end wh her tribal uncil votg 2011 to approve gay marriage.

“I realized that I do have the power to change my suatn, ” said Purser, 30, a mercial seafood diver om Olympia, more Native Amerins makg siar mands, the Suquamish tribe now is one of three that has signed off on marriage by same-sex experts say ’s another example of trib g their sovereignty to pass laws that apply only on their gay marriage legal 11 stat, legal analysts predict more trib will follow, givg new rights to what many Native Amerins ll “two-spir” dividuals, after the belief that they rry both a feme and mascule as Amerins awa a landmark gay marriage lg om the Supreme Court this summer, the issue is g divisn Indian recently, March, the uncil of the Ltle Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Michigan voted 5 to 4 to approve a gay marriage law. He ran for the tribal uncil but lost the recent primary, though he said he hop there’s enough turnover to scrap the law after the June general Khick III, a member of the uncil who voted agast gay marriage, said the tribe should accept the oute.

AMONG INDIAN TRIB, A DIVISN OVER GAY MARRIAGE

”Trib have long wrtled wh the one of the first vot, the Navajo Natn Council 2005 banned same-sex marriag and unns between close blood years later, the Coquille Indian Tribe Oregon beme the first the natn to approve a gay marriage wh 566 ferally regnized trib, the majory have stayed Whener, executive director of the Native Amerin Law Center at the Universy of Washgton School of Law Seattle, predicted that would change quickly if the Supreme Court or Congrs threw out the Defense of Marriage Act and ma gay marriage a universal right.

The law allows stat to not regnize gay marriag om other stat.

“That is the big hang-up for tribal gay marriage statut, om a legal perspective, ” he said.

MORE THAN JT THE “GAY INDIANS”

Scholars note that before their troductn to Christiany, many trib accepted their gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr members as “two spirs, ” even givg them add rpect bee they were thought to have special powers.

Consequently, they say, gay marriage is easier for many tribal members to accept, though still kicks up plenty of ntroversy.

”Whener, a member of Washgton state’s Squax Island Tribe, relled how his openly gay got elected to his tribe’s uncil, wh the issue of his sexualy never g up. “This is a generalizatn, but I don’t thk that homosexualy among most tribal groups was somethg that they nsired taboo, ” Whener said. ”Purser is optimistic that the Supreme Court will make gay marriage the law of the land, leavg relign out of the ’s still unmarried, but is livg wh 28-year-old Rebec Platter, her partner of three years.

FOR NATIVE AMERINS, FIGHT FOR GAY MARRIAGE ISN'T OVER

Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love. There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia. 'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022.

Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife. The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage". “I thk people slanr two-spirs as ‘gay Indians.

NATIVE AMERIN TRIB CHALLENGE OKLAHOMA GAY MARRIAGE BAN

“Some misnceptns are all two-spir people are transgenr femal or drag queens, but they are jt feme gay native men, ” Co-Cke’ said. “My trib are; Mgee Creek, who know we exist but are not embracg our culture; Blackfeet, who are aware of the tradn and mostly except ; Osage, who are mostly supportive of gay marriage, but haven’t embraced the two-spirt culture and Peoria, who do not except the culture, ” Co-Cke’ said. The Gayly regniz there are many other trib and two-spir muni not regnized this article but acknowledg their existence and importance to the unrstandg of two-spir culture.