TULSA, Okla. -- About a month after a lesbian couple successfully filed for a tribal marriage application, the Cherokee National Tribal Council voted to clearly define marriage as between a man and a woman.
Principal Chief Chad Smith has indicated he will sign the measure, which was approved by the council Monday night.
The change to tribal marriage law would not affect Kathy Reynolds and Dawn McKinley, who were married last month in a Cherokee ceremony. Cherokee Nation laws are not retroactive.
A Cherokee Nation District Court has scheduled a hearing Friday to discuss a legal protest of McKinley's and Reynolds' marriage application. The outcome of that hearing will determine whether their union is legal.
After McKinley and Reynolds applied for the application May 13, Darrell Dowty, chief justice of the Judicial Appeals Tribunal, ordered a moratorium on marriages that was set to expire Monday.
"If we don't address this, we'll have a flood of same-sex marriages," O'Leary said. "This will be a black eye on the Cherokee Nation. Even the state of Oklahoma doesn't allow same-sex marriage."
The state of Oklahoma does not recognize marriages for same-sex couples but does honor marriages recorded by the Cherokees. The tribe handles only a few marriages a year.
State voters will decide in November whether to amend the constitution to strengthen the ban on gay marriage.
Freedom of speech makes it much easier to spot the idiots.
"If we don't address this, we'll have a flood of same-sex marriages," O'Leary said. "This will be a black eye on the Cherokee Nation. Even the state of Oklahoma doesn't allow same-sex marriage."
In other news there are Cherokee Indians with the last name O'Leary.
"Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings." - John F Kennedy
"If we don't address this, we'll have a flood of same-sex marriages," O'Leary said. "This will be a black eye on the Cherokee Nation. Even the state of Oklahoma doesn't allow same-sex marriage."
In other news there are Cherokee Indians with the last name O'Leary.
TULSA, Okla. -- About a month after a lesbian couple successfully filed for a tribal marriage application, the Cherokee National Tribal Council voted to clearly define marriage as between a man and a woman.
Principal Chief Chad Smith has indicated he will sign the measure, which was approved by the council Monday night.
The change to tribal marriage law would not affect Kathy Reynolds and Dawn McKinley, who were married last month in a Cherokee ceremony. Cherokee Nation laws are not retroactive.
A Cherokee Nation District Court has scheduled a hearing Friday to discuss a legal protest of McKinley's and Reynolds' marriage application. The outcome of that hearing will determine whether their union is legal.
After McKinley and Reynolds applied for the application May 13, Darrell Dowty, chief justice of the Judicial Appeals Tribunal, ordered a moratorium on marriages that was set to expire Monday.
"If we don't address this, we'll have a flood of same-sex marriages," O'Leary said. "This will be a black eye on the Cherokee Nation. Even the state of Oklahoma doesn't allow same-sex marriage."
The state of Oklahoma does not recognize marriages for same-sex couples but does honor marriages recorded by the Cherokees. The tribe handles only a few marriages a year.
State voters will decide in November whether to amend the constitution to strengthen the ban on gay marriage.
"If we don't address this, we'll have a flood of same-sex marriages," O'Leary said. "This will be a black eye on the Cherokee Nation. Even the state of Oklahoma doesn't allow same-sex marriage."
In other news there are Cherokee Indians with the last name O'Leary.
A lot of Native Americans have European last names. When the Dawes Roll was established, they were generally given last names to be able to deed land to them and their families. The crooked government officials often gave them the names of their own family so they could take the land meant for the Native Americans. Others would be given names that sounded similar to what their translated names would be close to. So a Running Bear might end up as Running Bear Brown.