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Oregon tribe to allow
same-sex marriages
Likely the first
American Indian tribe
to sanction them,
specialists say
Updated August 22,
GayPASG e-mail August 25, 2008
PORTLAND, Ore. –- AP -- At the
request of a lesbian couple, the Coquille Indian Tribe on the southern Oregon
coast, in the U.S. West, has adopted a law recognizing same-sex marriage.
Tribal law specialists say the Coquille appear to be the first American Indian
tribe to sanction such marriages. Most tribal law doesn't address the
issue. The Navajo and Cherokee tribes prohibit same-sex marriages.
The couple planning their wedding at the tribal plankhouse say they seek only
tribal recognition and are unconcerned about Oregon state and U.S. federal
prohibitions against gay marriage.
"For me, the important thing wasn't about rights or the benefits," 25-year-old
Kitzen Branting told the Eugene Register-Guard. "I just wanted the tribe
to say 'Yes, we recognize that you are just as important as any other tribe
member, and we will treat you and your spouse as we treat all tribal members.'"
Legal scholars said that tribes do have authority over domestic relations among
tribal members, but the U.S. Congress may have the ultimate say-so.
"It can do anything good or anything bad to the tribes and the Indian people as
citizen Indians," said Robert Miller, who teaches Indian law at the Lewis &
Clark College School of Law in Portland.
He said the tribes have all the rights they have historically held unless
Congress takes them away or the tribes give them up by treaty.
"Congress is the 900-pound gorilla in the corner," Miller said.
Little standing under federal law
Bill Funk, who teaches constitutional law at Lewis & Clark, compared the
Coquille action to that of states that recognize same-sex marriages even though
the federal Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 does not.
"Under federal law, these are not marriages," said Funk, adding that other
tribes and states need not recognize a Coquille same-sex marriage.
He said the lack of federal recognition could make the couple ineligible for
marriage-related Social Security and other federal benefits.
"For our tribe, we want people to walk in the shoes of other people and learn to
respect differences," the tribal chief, Ken Tanner, told The Oregonian
newspaper. "Through that, we think we build a stronger community."
Kitzen Branting, whose maiden name is Doyle, is a tribal member, but her partner
is not. Kitzen Branting legally adopted Jeni Branting's last name three
years ago. They plan to be married in May and to live on tribal land.
(Abridged)
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