Cherokees Ban Gay Marriages

[sperbonzo]

Looks like those damn indians are a bunch of religious fanatics also! It's those rich old red men that are running everything,they just can't stop meddling! The ACLU should jump on them right away!




(Tahlequah, Oklahoma) The Cherokee Nation Tribal Council has passed a law banning same-sex marriages. The vote followed a public outcry after two women were granted a marriage application by a tribal court last month.

The motion passed unanimously.

Todd Hembree, the attorney for the council, said it is his legal opinion that same-sex marriage was banned all along because Indian tribes are governed directly by federal law and the US Defense of Marriage Act bars gays from marrying.

The two women, both native Americans, applied and were granted the marriage application in mid May. (story) The women, who have not been identified, live in the Tulsa area.

David Cornsilk, a gay Cherokee activist living in Tulsa, helped the women, both members of the tribe, receive the application. Cornsilk says because Cherokee law is genderless there was no reason they should not be allowed to marry.

But, after the license application was granted Cherokee Nation Chief Justice Darrell Dowty issued a moratorium on license applications.

The federal Defense of Marriage Act was passed in 1996 and states that no "Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship."

Cornsilk has not indicated if the couple will appeal.