Associated Press
Sunday, August 22, 2004; Page A06

TULSA, Aug. 21 -- About a month after a lesbian couple successfully filed for a tribal marriage application, the Cherokee National Tribal Council voted to clearly define marriage as between a man and a woman.

Principal Chief Chad Smith has indicated he will sign the measure, which was approved by the council last Monday.

The change in tribal marriage law will not affect Kathy Reynolds and Dawn McKinley, who were married last month in a Cherokee ceremony. Cherokee Nation laws are not retroactive.

A Cherokee Nation District Court has scheduled a hearing Friday to discuss a legal protest against the marriage application of McKinley and Reynolds. The outcome of that hearing will determine whether their union is legal.

After McKinley and Reynolds made their application May 13, Chief Justice Darrell Dowty of the Judicial Appeals Tribunal ordered a moratorium on marriages that is set to expire Monday.

The state of Oklahoma does not recognize marriages of same-sex couples but honors marriages recorded by the Cherokee tribe. The tribe handles only a few marriages a year.

State voters will decide in November whether to amend the constitution to strengthen the ban on same-sex marriage.