The Cherokee Nation has established itself as a pioneer in Indigenous civil rights by proactively weaving LGBTQ+ protections into the fabric of tribal law.
Their approach is unique because it combines high-level legal mandates with a return to traditional Cherokee values of equality.
While many U.S. states were still debating marriage equality in 2016, the Cherokee Nation’s Attorney General Todd Hembree issued a transformative 12-page legal opinion.
He declared that the tribe’s 2004 law defining marriage as “one man and one woman” was unconstitutional under the Cherokee Constitution.
The opinion stated that the right to marry is a “fundamental right” and that “the right to marry without the freedom to marry the person of one’s choice is no right at all.”
This immediately legalized same-sex marriage and adoption for all citizens, making it one of the largest sovereign nations in the U.S. to offer these protections independently of federal rulings.
Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. solidified these rights in 2020 by signing Executive Order 2020-05-CTH. This order was a major legislative step that moved beyond just “allowing” marriage to actively “protecting” individuals.
It explicitly prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity across all branches of the tribal government.
This covers everything from tribal employment and housing to social services and medical care at Cherokee-run facilities (the largest tribal health system in the U.S.).
In recent years, the administration has expanded this to include the Principal Chief’s Task Force on Registration, which aims to remove bureaucratic barriers for 2SLGBTQ+ citizens—such as streamlining name and gender marker changes on tribal IDs.
A key part of the Cherokee Nation’s leadership is the framing of these rights not as “Western imports,” but as a return to pre-colonial values.
Tribal historians and leaders often cite that before European contact and the imposition of Christian-influenced laws, gender-variant individuals held respected roles within the tribe as healers and mediators.
The Nation supports Two-Spirit outreach programs that provide culturally specific mental health resources and “Cultural Enrichment” camps, which help at-large Cherokee citizens (those living outside Oklahoma) reconnect with their identity.
