THE CHEROKEE NATION is in a quandary right now over the issue of same-sex marriage.

Under a compact with the state of Oklahoma, marriages recorded by the Cherokee Nation will be recognized by the state. Cherokee law is very vague on gender issues in its marriage laws. The Cherokee terms used in the marriage ceremony translate as “provider” and “cooker,” not “husband” and “wife.”

Last May, a lesbian couple used these definitions in applying for and receiving a marriage license from the Cherokee Nation. After their marriage ceremony, the couple asked the Cherokee Nation to file their certificate of marriage with the state.

The Cherokee Nation court refused to accept the marriage certificate, claiming tribal authorities did not know when they granted the license that it was for a same-sex couple.

In the midst of a court battle over the issue, the Cherokee Tribal Council passed a new law defining a marriage as “between a man and a women,” but the laws cannot be made retroactive.

As a result, there is one single same-sex marriage certificate waiting to be filed.

WHY IS THIS such a hot-button issue for the Cherokees, as it would be for any other Native American tribe? When our son came out, one of the first places I went to ask questions was “the stomp grounds.”

This is where the traditional Cherokee worship, and I wanted to know what the elders and leaders there said about someone being gay. What I learned was that these wise elders said nothing.

Homosexuality was not important to the definition of an individual, they said. Certainly opposite-gender sexual relationships were the most common form, but same-sex couples were not unknown.

These gay couples existed, were recognized, and were an accepted part of society.

In tribal history, being gay was not viewed as something bad. In truth, many Native American societies viewed these individuals with respect and considered them a third gender.

WHY HAS THIS changed? In a word: acculturation.

European cultures have made a lasting impression upon all Native American societies. It is Europeans who brought to Native communities the idea that anything out of the ordinary was an aberration and must be destroyed.

As the Cherokee people were infiltrated by other cultures and removed from their native lands in the Southeast U.S., many of their customs began to be eroded.

Cherokee marriage and family structure has been changed drastically by this acculturation. Traditionally, the most important rules regulating marriage dealt with exogamy, or marriage within or outside the clan.

Sexual relationships between people of the same clan were strictly forbidden. Clan lineage was through the mother, not the father, and the clan was an extended family.

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES PLAYED the most influential role in changing Cherokee family life, as they strove to save the souls of “the poor heathen people.” The majority of these missionaries were of the Baptist faith and preached a fire and brimstone type of religion.

Children were removed from their families and put in boarding schools, where they could not speak their native languages or practice their cultural
religions.

After the Trail of Tears that removed the Cherokee from their native lands, their society was repressed for many years. This made them susceptible to outside influences.

Today’s Cherokee Nation is much different from that encountered by Europeans years ago. While there are still traditionalists who practice the religions of their ancestors, they are in the minority.

Most political Cherokees today identify as Christian and the faith that has had the most influence on the tribe is Southern Baptist.