Navajo Nation may legalize same-sex marriage

SALT LAKE CITY — New legislation in the Navajo Nation could reverse a 2005 law that outlawed same-sex marriages within the country's largest Native American reservation.

Legislation sponsored by Council Delegate Seth Damon would repeal or amend a number of provisions within the 2005 Diné Marriage Act, which prohibited same-sex marriage. The legislation would not change the traditional Navajo wedding ceremony involving a man and a woman.

Same-sex Diné couples who receive marriage licenses outside the Navajo Nation are not recognized as married couples within the nation, meaning same-sex couples don't enjoy rights regarding issues like health care and shared property that straight couples do.

A 2015 Supreme Court ruling prohibited states from banning same-sex marriage, but the protections were not afforded couples on reservations because of the unique legal status of tribal governments, which have sovereignty to make and enforce their own laws. Various tribes have laws that allow same-sex marriage, including ones the predate the 2015 ruling.

The Navajo legislation, was recently approved by the Navajo Nation Council's Health, Education and Human Services Standing Committee.

"We need to come to an agreement for our Navajo couples so they can identify their beneficiaries. ... The couples who decide to share their lives together should be able to make these decisions," committee chairman Vince James said in a social media post. "Issues can arise where same-sex couples get married at the state level but still return home and conduct same-sex traditional marriages. ... Because there isn't a traditional wedding ceremony that involves same-sex couples, there is concern about who will enforce upholding traditional marriages as they stand."

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