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In June the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which operates Connecticut's Foxwoods Resort Casino, announced new tribal laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It also expanded the Foxwoods equal employment policy to ban such discrimination. The Mohegan tribe, which operates another major Connecticut casino, enacted an LGBT-friendly employment policy several years ago and this year launched a monthly gay dance party.
With society as a whole moving toward greater acceptance of gay people, so are native tribes returning to their roots of tolerance--before European settlement of the Americas, many Native American tribes revered gender-variant members, often imbuing them with special powers and accepting their same-sex relationships.
The Mashantucket Pequot tribe (a member of which is pictured) also recently decided to license same-sex marriages. In this it follows the Coquille tribe of the Pacific Northwest, which approved same-sex marriage in 2008, likely the first tribe to do so. The federal government isn't bound to recognize such marriages, although states with marriage equality recognize same-sex tribal unions, says Melanie Rowen, a staff attorney with the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
An LGBT chamber of commerce helped the Mashantucket Pequots develop its new policies, which tribe spokeswoman Lori Potter says fit the Pequots "basic vision and mission." After all, adds Robert Victoria, chief marketing officer for Foxwoods' gaming enterprises, the tribe "is no stranger to discrimination and the struggle for dignity and equality."
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Trudy Ring
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.