I seldom read the Cherokee Phoenix, the official tribal newspaper of the Cherokee Nation. But yesterday, I saw a copy in the Catoosa tribal tag office and the headline drew me in. By executive fiat alone, the Cherokee Nation has approved homosexual marriage.
I have a bit of an interest in that headline. A dozen or so years ago, the Cherokee Nation's pastors rose up and told tribal leadership that should they approve homosexual marriage, they would oppose them. The church is a powerful force in the real Cherokee Nation, not the politically correct nation of racial opportunists, posturing politicians and foggy minded academics. Many pastors threatened the nuclear option of refusing to perform tribal marriages. As the matter progressed, native pastors from all over the Cherokee Nation met in churches and promised to oppose tribal leadership. Feelings ran high and there was no doubt that tribal leaders were going to pay a high political price for ignoring the will of their constituents if they went ahead.
I have intimate knowledge of these events and issue because I was there. I was those pastor's attorney. But, like most things involving Native American issues, this project was a neglected step child of the splashier gay marriage cases in big cities. Our battle was fought and won in the sanctuaries and fellowship halls of Cherokee churches deep in the Cookson Hills not a courtroom. And when it was over, the national Christian civil rights law firm I was working for did not approve reimbursement for most of my expenses or any of the bills for my time.
It is hard to describe the commitment of those Cherokee pastors who stopped gay marriage in its tracks. When you get away from the politicians, gambling operators and left wing opportunist, the Cherokee Nation is really a pretty Christian place. The local church is often the social center of the small villages and townships in Eastern Oklahoma. The hymns are sometimes still sung in Cherokee and the theology is usually both sound and conservative. Very conservative. They don't follow the surrounding communities practice of preaching one thing and then doing something else. In the hills of Eastern Oklahoma, if you don't keep your word you're not welcome. Their "yea"is "yea" and their "nay" is "nay." The pastors and church leaders I met during that project made me truly proud to be a member of the tribe. If I had to do it all over, I would be there again in a heartbeat and pay for it out of my pocket again.
But now, by what amounts to executive fiat, homosexual marriage is legal in the Cherokee Nation. As the story in the Cherokee Phoenix said, "times change and people change." But, that change is not always for the better. The only thing certain about this decision is that the winds of political change have shifted.
If I could talk to those brave pastors now I would say, "Brothers, do not be discouraged. We fought a good fight and won our battle. We held back the darkness for over ten years. The fight is not over it has only changed battlegrounds. It is time to exercise your "nuclear option" by not recognizing or performing these so called marriages. You still have your pulpits and you are still the strongest grass roots political force in the Nation. Use those tools to tell your tribal leadership to go back to their politics, casinos and high flying business deals and stay out of marriage and the church."
Gurahiyi my brothers.
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