Certificate could be valid if no legal action is taken

Sunday, June 6th 2004, 11:45 am

By: News On 6

(Muskogee-AP) -- A same-sex couple who sought to wed under Cherokee law may be able to get their marriage application certified when a moratorium on issuing or registering applications is lifted on June 14.

Barring a legal protest, a marriage certificate issued in May to a lesbian couple would be valid.

Attorney Mark Bonney, who is helping the couple, says the Cherokee Nation's law does not define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

It only requires people to be 18 and mentally capable to marry.

Dawn McKinley and Kathy Reynolds, both Cherokee citizens, married in May in Tulsa after being issued a Cherokee marriage certificate.

The state of Oklahoma honors marriage certificates issued by the tribe, but does not recognize same-sex marriages.

The moratorium was issued so tribal officials could decide what legal action, if any, needed to be taken. So far, nothing has been filed, officials said.

Chief Chad Smith's spokesman Mike Miller says the administration is still deciding whether or not to file a court action.