Felix Clary
ICT + Tulsa World
After gay marriage was legalized by the Cherokee Nation less than a decade ago, the tribe is making efforts this year to ensure LGBTQ-supporting tribal policies.
At a ceremonial signing to proclaim June as Pride Month for the Cherokee Nation, Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. told Chief of Staff Corey Bunch and Secretary of State Shella Bowlin to spend the rest of the fiscal year examining tribal departments. They will identify and mitigate potential barriers to access for people in the LGBTQ+ community, as well as explore opportunities to expand access for LGBTQ+ people to medical care or whatever services are needed.
As Hoskin signed the proclamation, he expressed his concern for young LGBTQ+ people who feel alone and unsupported.
“I want them to know, more than anyone else, that the Cherokee Nation and the Cherokee people love you, and that we see you, and that you’re a part of our community. … If there is an effort to condemn you or marginalize against you, then we’re gonna push against that effort. We’re going to do it every single day in this administration,” Hoskin said at the event earlier this month.
It wasn’t until 2016 that the Cherokee Nation overturned a ban on gay marriage instated in 2004 when a lesbian couple was denied a tribal marriage license.
“Being from a dismissed, marginalized society, it was hard to take knowing our own people were doing the same thing to us,” said Cherokee and Delaware citizen Cray Bauxmont-Flynn. He is from Tulsa and founder of the All-Nations Two-spirit Society, which is hosting its 37th annual International Two-Spirit Gathering in Hinton this fall.
Two-Spirit is an identity that varies among different tribal nations, but it generally means an Indigenous person who identifies with both masculinity and femininity.
“Native Americans have been dismissed for so many years, and then to be doubly treated like that from our own tribal nations — it’s disheartening,” said Bauxmont-Flynn.
He said he believes that part of the reason tribes have been homophobic or transphobic is because of the conservative religious assimilation forced on tribal governments and communities.
“During colonization, we gained a Christian faith, but God and Jesus were all loving,” Bauxmont-Flynn said.
Hoskin said Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ identities are an ancient part of Cherokee culture and history.
“It doesn’t take a historian to know this,” the chief said. “We have had members of the LGBTQ+ community among our citizens since time immemorial, since creation.
“The second thing we have to acknowledge from the historical record is that we do not have a tradition of excluding or condemning members of that community. … It is culturally rooted that the Cherokee people have not had a tolerance for the condemning or excluding of members of the LGBTQ+ community, irrespective of what labels over time we may affix to the community.”
During the June 10 event, Hoskin sat in front of several Two-Spirit Cherokee citizens, allies and a row of flags — the Cherokee Nation flag, the Oklahoma flag and a Progress Pride flag. He said the Cherokee Constitution has an equal protection clause for a reason.
“Our constitution protects free speech and free expression, and that includes every type of expression, so it has to include gender expression,” he said.
Bauxmont-Flynn said he was overjoyed to learn about the Cherokee Nation proclamation.
“I think that it is spectacular,” he said. “It is an amazing thing to hear and see — and to be recognized? It’s just phenomenal.”
This story is co-published by the Tulsa World and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Oklahoma area.
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