NATIVE AMERICANS SAY "NO" TO GAY MARRIAGE  

By Russ Hepler


In the cultural battle over “same-sex” marriage, one of the American groups overlooked in the debate is the Native American population.  Organized along ancestral tribes, these groups form a diverse, yet significant portion of the U.S. population.
Native American tribal leaders have discussed the issue of “same-sex” marriage at length over the past several years as the debate has raged in America.
Where many of them have come out on the matter is sure to make liberals howl. 

CNS News reports:

Tribal laws of the two largest Native American tribes in the United States prohibit gay marriage, as do the laws of nine other smaller tribes.
The Navajo and Cherokee Nations, the first and second largest tribes respectively, together have about 600,000 members. The nine smaller tribes that ban gay marriage have another 350,000 members. These tribes all either define marriage as between a man and a woman or explicitly prohibit same-sex marriage, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Since 2011, six of the eleven tribes revisited and upheld their preexisting legal definitions of marriage as between a man and a woman, AP researchers found.

It will not matter what the Supreme Court decides on “same-sex” marriage.  These tribes have their own sovereignty as CNS News reveals:

Due to their status as sovereign nations, these 11 tribes will not need to change their marriage laws, which govern nearly one million tribal members, even if the Supreme Court legalizes gay marriage later this month.
If the court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling determines that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, Native American bans on gay marriage will remain in effect because federally-recognized tribes have the right to establish their own laws and are not subject to the U.S. Constitution.

These Native American tribes have thought through this issue and their statements are clear, concise, and legally binding as CNS News explains:

For example, the Cherokee Nation Marriage and Family Protection Act of 2004 defines marriage as “a civil contract between one man and one woman” and states that “no marriage shall be contracted…between parties of the same gender.”
Title 6 of Chickasaw tribal law states that “a marriage between persons of the same gender performed in any jurisdiction shall not be recognized as valid and binding in the Chickasaw Nation.” However, the law notes that it does not prohibit “members of the same sex from entering written contracts” with one another.
Many other tribes remain neutral, AP reports, neither taking steps to officially recognize gay marriage nor changing the wording of their marriage laws to include or preclude recognition of same-sex couples.
However, the legal language for some of these neutral tribes makes reference to heterosexual couples by use of such phrases as “husband and wife,” “a man and a woman,” and “unmarried male and…unmarried female.”
For example, the Northern Cheyenne Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act defines marriage as “a personal relationship between a man and a woman arising out of a civil contract to which the consent of the parties is essential,” in which spouses “take each other as husband and wife.”
To date, such laws have not been applied to same-sex couples.
The question, at this point, is whether homosexual rights bullies will eventually set their sites on these Native American tribes as they have done to various Christian businesses around the nation.              

It is doubtful such challenges could be successful.  But, that may not stop these extremist radicals from trying to foist their “gender confusion” onto Native Americans as well.
Native Americans have endured far worse in their past and survived.  They will probably overcome this threat to their way of life as well.

http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/us/native-americans-say-no-to-gay-marriage