Turtle Talk

From OPB News (H/T Falmouth):

This May the Coquille Tribe on Oregon’s Southern Coast adopted a policy recognizing same-sex marriages.

It’s believed to be the first tribe in the country to do so.  As Andrew Theen reports, one tribal member and her partner plan to be legally married in Oregon next spring.

Kitzen and Jeni Branting have been together for over a decade.   They are domestic partners in the state of Washington where they live, and Jeni already changed her last name to Branting.

Since May Jeni has already been recognized as a tribal spouse.  She is eligible for the tribe’s healthcare benefits.

But Kitzen Branting says taking the next step of marriage is important.  She said the official recognition of equality means a lot to her and other gay couples in the tribe.

Kitzen Branting: “For me it was very personal and very much, I wanted my tribe, my community, my family to say, yes you are an equal part of our nation.”

Branting says all the attention is puzzling.

She says she is not planning on actively pursuing a legal challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act. But she adds the U.S. government shouldn’t infringe on her marriage or the tribe’s sovereignty.