New Pro-LGBT Legislation Seeks to Overturn Same-Sex Marriage Ban in 3 States
A new proposal is being considered that could legalize same-sex marriages under the Navajo Nation’s tribal law.
Although a 2015 Supreme Court ruling legalized same-sex marriages in the United States, tribal governments have the autonomy to make their own rules for tribal members.
In 2005, the Navajo Nation – which covers parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah — passed the Diné Marriage Act, which outlawed same-sex marriages, according to NBC News.
Since then, multiple efforts have been made to change that law.
In June, Navajo Nation Council Delegate Seth Damon introduced a proposal to overturn some parts of the act and allow same-sex marriage.
“If there’s a better life that we as policymakers can make for our people and if this is one of them — to create better harmony, better initiatives and better responsibility as a government — then why are we not pushing for this?” Damon said, according to NBC News.
Although the legislation will create a legal vehicle for the tribe to recognize same-sex marriage, it does not redefine the traditional Navajo definition of marriage and limits traditional Navajo wedding ceremonies to take place between a man and a woman.
A final committee vote on the proposal is scheduled for Thursday. If the proposal passes, the full tribal council will consider it next month. Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren is supporting the proposal, according to the report.
The 2005 Navajo marriage law followed one in 2004 from the Cherokee Nation, which ended its ban on same-sex marriages in 2016.
Carl Slater, a council delegate who supported the change, claimed it is “a public health issue.”
“And we just have so many young people who don’t believe that they have a future on the reservation. They feel that they’re not accepted by their government, that they can’t continue to live here and be who they are,” he said.
A similar proposal was defeated last year, according to the Arizona Mirror.
At the time, Navajo Nation Council Delegate Paul Begay Jr. explained that he thought the bill violated the teachings of the Navajo Holy People.
“These are the laws of the Holy People. I can not go against the law of the Holy People,” Begay said, adding that it is not something that is written on paper.
“We all have our own thoughts,” he said. “I chose to go with the law of the Holy People.”
“The way in which it’s written is intended to acknowledge that the Navajo people consider marriage to be sacred between a man and a woman,” Jennifer Denetdale, professor and chairwoman of American studies at the University of New Mexico, told CNN.
“But the legislation recognizes and acknowledges that there are relationships between people who we may consider to be of the same sex, who have always had long-standing and fruitful and loving relationships as well,” she said.
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