A tribal court in
Oklahoma has dismissed a lawsuit that had delayed a
lesbian couple's effort to have their marriage recognized by
the Cherokee Nation. In a ruling filed Wednesday, the
tribe's judicial appeals tribunal said that Todd
Hembree, the tribe member and attorney whose lawsuit
blocked the filing of a tribal-issued marriage certificate
for Dawn McKinley and Kathy Reynolds, had no standing
to sue and could not show that he suffered any harm by
the couple's attempt to be recognized as a married
couple.
The women haven't
decided whether they will try to refile the certificate
in order to have their union officially certified by the
Cherokee Nation. Because of tribal sovereignty,
Cherokee Nation marriage certificates are recognized
just like Oklahoma marriage licenses. "We're excited;
we're happy," Kathy Reynolds said Wednesday. "We're
determining what our next step is going to be."
The Owasso
couple, who are both members of the tribe, exchanged vows in
Cherokee in May 2004 after the tribe gave them the
certificate without protest. But Hembree's lawsuit
brought the injunction that kept it from being filed.
Hembree, who
serves as counsel to the tribe's legislative body, believes
that tribal law at the time clearly prohibited same-sex
marriage. He said he had standing to bring the lawsuit
as a private tribal citizen because all tribe members
are harmed when laws are violated. He said the court's
decision ends the case for him. "That is a decision by the
highest court in our land," Hembree said. "There's now
no legal prohibition to having their marriage
certificate recognized."
Lena Ayoub, an
attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights who
has been representing the women, said they still want the
Cherokee Nation to recognize their marriage but also
value their privacy and are considering how to
proceed. After the couple wed last year, the Cherokee
Nation Tribal Council unanimously approved language that
defined marriage as a union between one man and one
woman.
McKinley, 33, and
Reynolds, 28, have said they weren't trying to make a
political statement by seeking recognition of their marriage
and that they found the attention to their effort
stressful. Last year Massachusetts became the first
U.S. state to recognize same-sex marriages. Other
states, including Oklahoma, ban such unions.
The Cherokee
Nation is not the only American Indian tribe to take up the
issue. In June the Navajo Nation's tribal government voted
to override its president's veto of a measure banning
same-sex marriage on the nation's largest American
Indian reservation. McKinley previously said the
couple opted to go to the tribe because it "was the only way
we walk into a courthouse anywhere in Oklahoma and
they're not just going to laugh at us." (AP)