Same Sex Marriage Meets US Constitution, Again

For John, BLUF:  In a complex society there are bound to be differences of opinion.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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I am sure that this is a test of the issues of assimilation, culture and cultural appropriation and a dominant culture imposing its will on a minority.  Straight from The Associated Press we have an article by Miss Felicia Fonseca, "GAY MARRIAGE IS LEGAL BUT NOT ON TRIBAL LANDS".

While there may be a small amount of humor in this predicament, I don't think it is really funny.  We are looking at people's lives here.  We are also looking at how our society judges and prioritizes rights and privileges.

Here is the lede plus one.

Cleo Pablo married her longtime partner when gay weddings became legal in Arizona and looked forward to the day when her wife and their children could move into her home in the small Native American community outside Phoenix where she grew up.

That day never came.  The Ak-Chin Indian Community doesn't recognize same-sex marriages and has a law that prohibits unmarried couples from living together.  So Pablo voluntarily gave up her tribal home and now is suing the tribe in tribal court to have her marriage validated.

We are talking arcane provisions of the US Constitution here.  Or, specifically, Native American tribes have sovereign lands, where the U.S. Constitution does not apply.  It is an interesting concept.

But this issue is bigger than the relationship of the US Government to Native American tribes.

When our society allows greater freedom to do as one wishes, we run the risk of offending more people.  When we don't have cultural assimilation we have the problem of groups of people not being happy with some of these new freedoms.  On the other hand, there are those who are against cultural assimilation.  Should Muslims of whatever stripe, coming from the Eastern Hemisphere, be treated as intolerant for being opposed to modern American sexual mores.♠  Or should they be expected to suck it up and live with it?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Heck, there are non-Muslims who think some of our sexual mores are in bad taste.