cherokee court dismisses gay marriage suit

elation. complete elation.

this is absolutely spectacular news. kathy and dawn have deserved this for much too long. this is an important moment in the history of allowing americans to love whoever the hell they damn well please.

it led thursday's tulsa world: the law suit filed against dawn mckinley and kathy reynolds in attempt to void the marriage certificate they received under cherokee tribal law was thrown out by a cherokee court because the fool who filed it, a tahlequah attorney named todd hembree, couldn't prove he suffered harm as a result of their attempt to be recognized as a married lesbian couple.

by the way, in the photo, kathy is on the right and dawn is on the left.

for those who aren't familiar with this story, dawn and kathy were encouraged by a friend to challenge the wording of the tribe's constitution by filing to receive a marriage certificate, and a tribal clerk, unaware that there would be any problem issuing a marriage certificate to a lesbian couple, gave it to them.

the tribe responded immediately by changing the wording of the tribe's constitution, but the new rules could not be applied retroactively. so, their marriage would have remained technically intact, until hembree filed suit in an attempt to void the marriage claiming he was simply trying to uphold the original wording of the constitution, and thus the law, which to him, barred same-sex marriage.

his attempt didn't work.

still, due to the new language, other cherokees could not marry under the tribe's jurisdiction, but dawn and kathy have at least become a national symbol, their story making it into the washington post last week in a piece filed by a regional correspondent named lois romano.

i also happen to have a little insider information on this story, the reasons of which i won't explain.

at one point, kathy had to go into the hospital for serious back pain stemming from a car accident that had happened when she was younger. she had taken a spill at school that had agitated the back problems. she was at the hospital for days, but dawn was not initially permitted into kathy's room because she was not family.

if you've ever seen these two together, you'd know how important it would be for them to be there for each other when something like a medical emergency occurred. these two were made for each other. they hooked up at a dart tournament for christ's sake.

they had pursued marriage after the hospital incident. now dawn can help make key medical decisions for kathy if necessary, and she can sure as shit now go into the hospital room of her life partner.

but these two still went through more hell together than they should have had to.

romano reports:

"for months, reynolds and mckinley could not even find a local lawyer to take their case. those they approached were either opposed to the marriage or did not want to alienate the tribe that doles out lucrative contracts to law firms.

'there were about 35 lawyers on the list of those permitted to argue in tribal court, and one day I went down the whole list and couldn't find anyone willing to take the case,' mckinley said. 'one guy laughed and hung up on me.'

the san francisco-based national center for lesbian rights agreed to represent them. because the cherokee council has passed the law limiting marriage to a man and woman, reynolds and mckinley's case is being argued solely for them.

'whatever happens will set no precedent -- it will affect only this one case,' said mike miller, spokesman for the cherokee nation.

still, advocates maintain that if the couple prevails, the resolution will help other gay couples who walk the same path. meanwhile, the very public battle has taken its toll on the women, who say they are just trying to live their lives peacefully and raise mckinley's daughter.

'one neighbor just stopped talking to us when this became public,' reynolds said. 'i mean, really, who are we hurting here?' mckinley asked. 'we don't bother anyone, we mind our own business . . . stick to ourselves. how would our marriage hurt anyone?'"

vindication.