Here.
Following Coquille and Suquamish’s lead….
Washington State’s Governor Signs Gay Marriage Into Law
Here.
Following Coquille and Suquamish’s lead….
same sex marriage
Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Prop 8
Here is the opinion, thanks to How Appealing. The Ninth Circuit’s server seems to have crashed.
Suquamish Chairman on their Same-Sex Marriage Ordinance
Last month, the Suquamish Tribal Council amended its existing Marriage and Divorce Ordinance to permit marriages regardless of the couple’s gender. The amendment passed by a unanimous vote of the council and allows same-sex couples to receive the same treatment and benefits as opposite-sex couples. At least one person entering the marriage must be an enrolled member of the Suquamish Tribe. The amendment also provides for tribe members in civil unions entered in recognized jurisdictions to convert the union into a Suquamish Tribal marriage.
The issue of sexual orientation is not controversial in the Suquamish community. I have found no mention of sexual orientation as an issue in my research of the Tribe’s oral history or in non-Indian archival data. Some elders have stated that traditional views on same-sex interactions suggested that these individuals may have possessed unique spiritual associations. Research indicates that sexual orientation was probably not an area of great moral concern or discussion in Suquamish society before interaction with non-Indians. That same cultural value remains within the community today.
This tribal community of 1,050 members is sensitive to discrimination. Many members have experienced mistreatment based on race in their own lifetime, so the council understands the importance of ensuring that tribe members do not face discrimination in their own tribal laws, including due to sexual orientation. Tribe members view the amendment as an expression of the high value they place on inclusiveness and acceptance of diverse views within our community. This amendment embodies the Suquamish people’s ultimate exercise of its inherent right as a sovereign government to address the essential social question of whom Suquamish Tribe members can choose to marry.
Suquamish Tribe Approves Same-Sex Marriage
The news article is here.
Onion: Future U.S. Students Shocked at How Long It Took for Us to Legalize Gay Marriage
Here is that article:
DECATUR, IL, THE YEAR 2083—According to students in Mr. Bernard’s fourth-period U.S. history class, it’s “really pathetic” how long it took for early-21st-century Americans to finally legalize gay marriage.
The classroom of 15-year-olds at MacArthur High School—all of whom were born in the late 2060s and grew up never questioning the obvious fact that homosexual couples deserve the right to get married—were reportedly “amazed” to learn in their Modern U.S. History: 2081 Edition textbooks that as late as the 2020s, gays and lesbians actually had to fight for the constitutional right to wed.
“Wow, that is nuts,” said student Jeremy Golliver, who claimed he knew gay rights was a struggle “like, a hundred years ago” but didn’t realize it lasted so long. “It’s really embarrassing, when you think about it. Just the fact that people in this century were actually saying things like, ‘No, gays should not be allowed to marry,’ and were getting all up in arms about it, as if homosexuals weren’t full citizens or something. It’s insane.”
“I mean, was everybody just a huge bigot back then or what?” Golliver added.
ABA urges tribes and states to allow same-sex marriage
Here’s a link to the ABA’s resolution.
Daniel Heath Justice on Queer Indians and the Cherokee Nation
Daniel Heath Justice has published “Notes on a Theory of Anomaly” in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (article here: Notes Toward a Theory of Anomaly.
Here is the abstract:
Recent laws against same-sex marriage in the Cherokee Nation provide the backdrop for this analysis of alternative models of Cherokee sexual diversity. Rather than seek identifiable historical precedent that is largely unavailable in the historical record and vehemently denied by the predominantly Baptist Cherokee majority, this essay argues instead for a modern queer Cherokee aesthetic that is both responsive to the contemporary experiences of gender- and sexuality-variant Cherokees and inspired by the late Mississippian category of “anomaly” as a queer-inclusive tribal model for belonging.
New Scholarship on Same-Sex Marriage in Indian Country
Mark Strasser has posted “Tribal Marriages, Same-Sex Unions, and the Interstate Recognition Conundrum” on Berkeley Electronic Press (article here).
The abstract:
When justifying the recognition of Native American polygamous unions, courts tended to appeal the rationale that unions valid where celebrated would be valid everywhere. Yet, courts would not recognize polygamous unions that were celebrated on non-tribal lands, even if those marriages had been valid where celebrated. The focus of this essay is on why Native American polygamous unions tended to be recognized, and the implications that these recognition practices might have for the validity of same-sex marriages across state lines.
NNALSA Writing Competition — Winning Essay Published
The Arizona Journal of Comparative and International Law has published the winning essay in the NNALSA writing competition.
National Native American Law Students Association 8th Annual Writing Competition
Introduction
NNALSA
Foreword
Melissa L. Tatum
“The Coquille Indian Tribe, Same-Sex Marriage, and Spousal Benefits: A Practical Guide”
Julie Bushyhead
Legal and Political Strategies Succeed in Same-Sex Marriage
From WaPo:
For most of the country, the unanimous decision this month by the Iowa Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage was an unexpected and seemingly random victory for a movement that has long drawn its deepest support from major cities in liberal coastal states.
But for Camilla Taylor, a Chicago-based lawyer for the gay rights group Lambda Legal, it was the logical conclusion to a deliberate seven-year effort to make the Midwestern state one of the first in the country to allow same-sex marriage.
Coming just months after voters in California outlawed same-sex marriage, the decision was also a much-needed jolt for a group of loosely coordinated gay rights activists and legal experts who had been quietly building the case for marriage equality in states where they thought conditions were favorable, including Iowa and a handful in the Northeast.
Turtle Talk 
You must be logged in to post a comment.