Cherokee Lesbians from Owasso Tie The Knot…NOT?
On May 13th, 2004, Dawn L. McKinley and Kathy E. Reynolds, together for four years and both enrolled Cherokee citizens, began a series of step that should result in marriage. First, they requested and were issued a marriage application from the tribal court. Second, they were married by Leslie Penrose, a Tulsa-area minister. Lastly, on May 18th, they tried to take the final step to legalize their marriage - to register their marriage certificate with the tribal court.
As of this date, their marriage certificate, which legally establishes them as a married couple in the eyes of the Cherokee Nation as well as Oklahoma, has not been recorded, even though Cherokee Law stated, at the time of their application, “every person age 18 or older can be married, except those with a living husband or wife, those who are nearer of kin than first cousins, and those who are insane or idiotic.”
Their attempt to marry was blocked by a desperate and confusing series of actions taken by the Cherokee authorities:
- On May 14, Judicial Appeals Tribunal Chief Justice Darrell Dowty issues a 30-day marriage application moratorium
- A Cherokee Nation District Court judge extended a moratorium on tribal marriage applications at a June 18th hearing
- District Court Judge John Cripps extended the marriage-application freeze until a hearing could be held to determine the legal status of the Owasso couple’s marriage
- On June 11, Todd Hembree, the Tribal Council’s attorney, filed an objection to the issuance of the lesbian couple’s marriage application
- Scrambling to clarify any future marriage ambiguity, the Tribal Council unanimously voted to amend the tribe’s marriage law banning same-sex marriages along with bigamy and adultery -June 14th- without even reading it
- On June 16, Hembree also filed a petition for declaratory judgment stating that the original Cherokee marriage law implies that marriage certificates are for couples comprised of one man and one woman
- The Owasso couple’s attempt to be married in the eyes of their people has become a legal battle against the refusal of the tribe to register the marriage certificate.
Oklahoma voters will decide in November whether to amend the state constitution to permanently deny marriage equality to same-sex couples.