In an important victory for the LGBT community, the Coquille Indian Tribe of Oregon legalized same-sex marriage in August. Tribe member Kitzen Branting will be married to Jeni Branting this spring.
The tribe is a federally recognized sovereign nation and is not bound by the Oregon Constitution, which bans same-sex marriage. However, the federal Defense of Marriage Act prohibits recognition of same-sex relationships, which could test the limits of tribal sovereignty.
After a review of tribal history, the tribe’s culture committee concluded that same-sex partnerships had been accepted with no exclusions from tribal citizenship.
Kitzen Branting told the newspaper, “I wanted my tribal family to say, ‘Yes, we recognize that you are equal to any other tribal member, and you are just as important, and your spouse should have the same rights as any other spouse.’”
