Marriage equality in Muscogee Constitution
- by Brian Eckberg
Two-Spirit Column
All Nations Two-Spirt Society
It is 2026, and Muscogee (Creek) Nation continues to prohibit marriage equality. They’re not alone in Oklahoma, as Seminole and Citizen Potawatomi nations also refuse to recognize the legitimacy.
But among the largest tribal nations on Turtle Island (North America), Muscogee stands alongside Navajo Nation in this small category of shame. The US Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling has not freed these citizens to exercise those rights. Tribal sovereignty allows nations to determine their own marriage laws.
Looking further, I found a brave tribal councilwoman and an egregious hole in the Muscogee Constitution.
Dode Barnett is a tribal councilwoman who sits on the nation’s Business, Finance and Justice Committee. Any hope of reversing the marriage ban starts with advancing a bill out of committee. She was the sole vote in favor in February 2024. The other three on the committee, Sandra Golden, Nelson Harjo and (the ironically named) Patrick Freeman, all voted against the legislation, but not before ridiculing councilwoman Barnett for bringing it forward.
“Why are you doing this?” Golden asked. “I also got a lot of calls from churches and ceremonial grounds, and they said, ‘Do not pass this.’” Harjo added, “We have a tradition we’ve always followed, and we have a culture that we’ve always practiced.”
Barnett was asked about these statements in an interview with the website NonDoc. “Same-sex marriage was not mentioned at all in our law until 2006, so it’s a relatively new concept that we’re banning same-sex marriage.” She went on to say that there was palpable disdain and even hatred in the room as her bill to overturn the ban was being discussed.
In the nearly two years since the vote, councilwoman Barnett’s bill remains the only attempt to amend the law in Muscogee Nation. I was struck by her singular bravery in standing up for 2SLGBTQIA+ citizens in speaking out for their rights. But what will it take to finally overturn this institutionalized and, dare I say, even colonized mentality? The answer may be found in the Muscogee Constitution itself.
Article 2, Section 2 bars “abridge[ing] the rights and privileges of individual citizens of The Muscogee (Creek) Nation enjoyed as citizens of the State of Oklahoma and of the United States.” With marriage equality in all 50 states, the Muscogee tribal council is breaking its own constitution’s language. Muscogee Nation is violating its own constitution by prohibiting marriage equality, according to Article 2, Section 2.
A same-sex Muscogee couple that is rejected for a marriage license by the nation could easily challenge this law in the Muscogee Supreme Court. And they should. Their constitution and this law cannot continue to stand in defiance of each other. It wouldn’t be the first time this challenge has succeeded in tribal nation law, as the Choctaw Supreme Court overturned its own marriage equality ban due to similar language in its constitution.
One of the most hypocritical things about the quotes from council members Golden and Harjo was that they invoked tradition and historical culture in defending marriage equality bans. The absurdity of this argument recalls the historical record, as queer life was found in every region of the continent and among speakers of every major language group, prior to colonization. The evangelical Christian attitude toward queer culture within Native communities is not a part of Muscogee tradition prior to European contact. It is merely evidence that many of these council members have been successfully colonized in their thinking to adopt hateful, modern attitudes toward tradition itself. “A culture that we’ve always practiced”…Hardly.
Queer and Two-Spirit culture is Native tradition. We do this work every day at All Nations Two-Spirit Society (ANTSS), defending our traditions before they are erased any further. Tribal council members who restrict our traditional understanding of queer acceptance are now doing the work of the colonizer. They came, conquered, enslaved and erased our history. Now, our leaders freely promote this bigotry as tradition? That is a very successful colonization achievement.
It’s a new year. Time for new bravery to save our not-so-new tradition and culture. We need another brave Muscogee citizen to step forward and take this ban to court. The liberation of Muscogee IndigiQueer/Two-Spirit citizens is in sight.
Thanks for reading & Wado!
The Gayly online. 1/21/26 @ 11:52 a.m. CST.
