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Federally Recognized Gay Marriage

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The first federally recognized same-sex marriage will happen on the Coquille reservation in Oregon

Woohoo!

[T]he Coquille Tribe on the southern Oregon coast has just legalized marriage on their land. And Kitzen and Jeni Branting, in a committed lesbian relationship since high school, will soon be legally wed.

Though most Native American cultures have been fairly accepting of a wide range of genders and sexualities, sometimes honoring “two-spirits” as shamans, contemporary tribal laws have mostly banned same-sex marriage.

According to Brian Gilley, anthropology professor at the University of Vermont and author of the book, Becoming Two-Spirit: Gay Identity and Social Acceptance in Indian Country, “Because the Coquille is federally recognized, a marriage “occurring within the tribe would actually be federally recognized.”

via OregonLive

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Written by Eric Stoller

August 20th, 2008 at 9:19 pm

Posted in LGBT,Social Justice,This and that

Tagged with , ,

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  • http://rhetoricalwasteland.blogspot.com Dennis

    Cool.

  • http://engagepodcast.blogspot.com Joseph Orosco

    I’m not sure how this would work because of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act in which Congress defines marriage as between a man and a woman for federal purposes.

  • http://ericstoller.com/blog/ Eric Stoller

    @Joseph – Tribal sovereignty vs. a federal act. I’m not sure how it’s going to work…