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Navajo People Advocate for Bill to Recognize Same-Sex Marriage on Navajo Nation
Indian Country Today ^ | 7/19 | Shondin Silversmith

Posted on 07/19/2022 4:11:52 PM PDT by nickcarraway

'This repeal will uniformly recognize all marriages within the Navajo Nation'

Same-sex marriage is recognized across the United States, but that’s not the case on the Navajo Nation, where the Diné LGBTQ and two-spirit communities are fighting to get the same recognition on their homeland.

Lawmakers on the Navajo Nation are considering a bill that would repeal a ban on same-sex marriage, expand spousal rights to same-sex couples and strengthen families.

In 2005, the Navajo Nation implemented the Diné Marriage Act, which states that marriage between persons of the same sex is void and prohibited.

“This legislation corrects that history and corrects that discriminatory law,” Diné Pride Executive Director and Navajo Nation Council Director of Communications Alray Nelson told the Arizona Mirror. “This law will validate a lot of things for a lot of people.”

The legislation seeks to end the ban on same-sex marriage and repeal the section of tribal law that forbids couples of the same gender from marrying on the Navajo Nation or having their marriage recognized by the tribe.

“This repeal will uniformly recognize all marriages within the Navajo Nation,” the bill states.

Navajo Nation Council Delegate Eugene Tso introduced the bill at the end of June, and it went through its first committee hearing on July 13 with the Health, Education, and Human Services Committee.

“It does not change any language around the marriage between a man and a woman. It actually goes further and protects marriage between the Navajo people,” Nelson said of the legislation.

Same-sex marriage is recognized across the United States, but that’s not the case on the Navajo Nation, where the Diné LGBTQ and two-spirit communities are fighting to get the same recognition on their homeland.

Lawmakers on the Navajo Nation are considering a bill that would repeal a ban on same-sex marriage, expand spousal rights to same-sex couples and strengthen families.

In 2005, the Navajo Nation implemented the Diné Marriage Act, which states that marriage between persons of the same sex is void and prohibited.

“This legislation corrects that history and corrects that discriminatory law,” Diné Pride Executive Director and Navajo Nation Council Director of Communications Alray Nelson told the Arizona Mirror. “This law will validate a lot of things for a lot of people.”

The legislation seeks to end the ban on same-sex marriage and repeal the section of tribal law that forbids couples of the same gender from marrying on the Navajo Nation or having their marriage recognized by the tribe.

“This repeal will uniformly recognize all marriages within the Navajo Nation,” the bill states.

Navajo Nation Council Delegate Eugene Tso introduced the bill at the end of June, and it went through its first committee hearing on July 13 with the Health, Education, and Human Services Committee.

“It does not change any language around the marriage between a man and a woman. It actually goes further and protects marriage between the Navajo people,” Nelson said of the legislation.

"This legislation is about family. This is not a threat." – Alray Nelson, executive director of Diné Pride

Committee members got to hear from advocates of the bill, including Navajo woman Josie Raphaelito, who is originally from Ramah, New Mexico.

Raphaelito shared how she became an advocate for Indigenous communities nationally and internationally, especially on issues surrounding the LGBTQ and two-spirit communities.

“I stand with my Navajo LGBTQ+ relatives in saying we all deserve equal protection under Navajo Nation law, including the right to have our marriages recognized by our own nation,” she said during the committee meeting.

Raphaelito currently lives in Buffalo, N.Y., with her wife of five years. She hopes to one day move back to the Navajo Nation to be closer to her family and community, but she doesn’t see that happening until the ban on same-sex marriage is repealed.

“I truly want to be able to return home to Dinétah and know that my wife and I are protected and legally recognized as a married couple,” Raphaelito told the committee. “With all the hate, violence, and attacks on human rights in the United States, I want to know that we are safe once we move back home.

“Safe to live free from discriminatory laws that use colonize theories of gender and love and diminish our ways of life and knowing as Diné people,” she added.

Dr. Jennifer Denetdale, a professor at the University of New Mexico and chair of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission, encouraged the delegates to vote for the measure.

Denetdale said her research has found that the Navajo people have traditionally acknowledged more than one gender.

“This is reflected in our creation narratives about the Nádleehí who brought together the men and women after they had an argument,” Denetdale said.

Navajo creation stories speak of the Nádleehí, who is considered the third or multiple genders, and they are talked about in stories surrounding the separation of the sexes.

Traditionally, the Nádleehí were considered mediators and negotiators within Navajo society, according to Denetdale. They were also skilled at many things, like weaving and holding sacred ceremonial knowledge.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Arizona; US: New Mexico
KEYWORDS: 2dogsnownamed2dudes; gaymarriage; navahoes; navajo; newmexico
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Isn't this neocolonialism? They are pushing belgana idea onto the Navajo.
1 posted on 07/19/2022 4:11:52 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

They know that means Extinction right


2 posted on 07/19/2022 4:14:35 PM PDT by butlerweave
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To: nickcarraway

One will have to be brave to bend over in the sweat lodge.


3 posted on 07/19/2022 4:16:36 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: nickcarraway

Mentally ill libtards will never stop pushing their perverted views on the healthy population.


4 posted on 07/19/2022 4:17:14 PM PDT by trailboss800
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To: nickcarraway

It all started w/getting the Redskins to change their name.

Next thing you know, they’ll start taxing cigarettes on the reservation.


5 posted on 07/19/2022 4:19:32 PM PDT by fruser1
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To: nickcarraway

“...that would repeal a ban on same-sex marriage, expand spousal rights to same-sex couples and strengthen families.”

Only in the warped viewpoint of Organized Faggotry (and other freakazoids) do these perversions “strengthen families”.


6 posted on 07/19/2022 4:26:55 PM PDT by PermaRag (We have SO many targets, and -- for now -- the means to see they get what they deserve.)
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To: nickcarraway

No wonder the cowboys always won


7 posted on 07/19/2022 4:27:38 PM PDT by bigbob (z)
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To: trailboss800

Watching a nation and indeed the world 🌍 sliding into Genesis chapter 19.

The reprobates will never understand until the judgment comes.

And even then.....

Luke 17:28-32
King James Version

28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;

29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

31 In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.

32 Remember Lot’s wife.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2017%3A28-32&version=KJV


8 posted on 07/19/2022 4:30:05 PM PDT by SaveFerris (The Lord, The Christ and The Messiah: Jesus Christ of Nazareth - http://www.BiblicalJesusChrist.Com/)
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To: bigbob; dfwgator

(No wonder the cowboys always won)

Well, one was parked around back....

At one time this was a joke and not a headline of sorts


9 posted on 07/19/2022 4:31:55 PM PDT by SaveFerris (The Lord, The Christ and The Messiah: Jesus Christ of Nazareth - http://www.BiblicalJesusChrist.Com/)
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To: glorgau

A new pipe to smoke other than a peace pipe.


10 posted on 07/19/2022 4:39:44 PM PDT by Right Brother
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To: nickcarraway

Once this happens, best say no to the Nava ho. Brave look like a squaw.


11 posted on 07/19/2022 4:44:01 PM PDT by Rastus
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To: nickcarraway
Well there's one Indian who would approve ....


12 posted on 07/19/2022 4:44:26 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: butlerweave

Teepee living will do that to you.


13 posted on 07/19/2022 4:46:35 PM PDT by chopperk
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To: bigbob

Giddy-up Hot Dog!


14 posted on 07/19/2022 4:51:39 PM PDT by Big Red Badger (We Are JONAH)
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To: nickcarraway

I am on the https://ailanet.org/ mailing list

it is about 50% lgbtq+


15 posted on 07/19/2022 4:55:35 PM PDT by algore
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To: Right Brother

-—and how does one earn his queer feather? Is there an indian soap trick? Maybe wampum is involved? I want to hear the code talkers explain this. And remember how the code talkers had their personal guards? This bunch might need some special security?


16 posted on 07/19/2022 5:04:58 PM PDT by OldWarBaby
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To: nickcarraway

I assume that there is federal money involved; play the game, win the cash for the tribe. Bribery is best served cold.


17 posted on 07/19/2022 5:12:08 PM PDT by Liaison (TANSTAAFL)
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To: algore

Why so much?


18 posted on 07/19/2022 5:13:02 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: Liaison
Bribery Colonialism is best served cold.
19 posted on 07/19/2022 5:13:42 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Same-sex marriage in the Navajo Nation? What would Joe Leaphorn think?!


20 posted on 07/19/2022 5:49:00 PM PDT by Rummyfan (In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. )
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