Couple Married by Tribe at White House

This article I picked up at Free Detroit Press really broke my heart. I was happy that this couple got married though their tribe but that is just symbolism and Im not into present symbols. I like good acts that make good history and therefore good symbols.
 With more than half of voters supporting a repeal of Michigan's gay marriage ban, advocates say it's not a matter of if — but when — same-sex marriage is legal in the state.
Gay rights activists plan a 2016 ballot drive to overturn the 2004 constitutional ban approved by voters. Democratic senators last week introduced legislation to put the gay marriage question to voters in 2014, but odds of it passing a Republican-controlled Legislature are slim.

How soon? 2016 …You have time to get rid of the opponents now and for closeted gays to come out, which is really the fuel that’s driving this bus. 

Same-sex marriage is legal in 12 states. Each of them previously allowed same-sex couples to jointly adopt children and included protections for gays and lesbians in anti-discrimination laws, measures not on the books in Michigan, Dievendorf said."This is going to be an extensive effort," she said. "Michigan is still way behind in those areas.

”The state's gay marriage ban also prohibits civil unions and led public employers to rewrite policies to continue providing health insurance and other benefits to the domestic partners of gay employees.

While the 2004 measure received 58% support 8 ½ years ago, a poll released last month indicates a significant shift in the public's mood.

Fifty-five percent of likely voters said they would vote to amend the state constitution to allow same-sex marriage, according to poll from EPIC-MRA in Lansing. Forty-one percent were against with 4% undecided.             {{Adam}}

Tribal citizen Tim LaCroix (left), 53, of Boyne City, and his husband Gene Barfield, 60, of Boyne City, pose for a wedding photo on Friday, March 15, 2013, in Harbor Springs. The two were the first same-sex couple legally married in the State of Michigan after having been together for 30 years. / Ryan Garza / Detroit Free Press

Two men who married one another on an American Indian reservation in Michigan, which bans same-sex marriage, have been invited to the White House.

Tim LaCroix and his longtime partner, Gene Barfield, will be guests of President Barack Obama on Thursday at a reception honoring LGBT Pride Month, MLive.com reportedtoday. LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.

The men were married in March by the LittleTraverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, of which LaCroix is a member. Same-sex marriage is prohibited in Michigan, but federally recognized Native American tribes are self-governing and aren't bound by state law.

Barfield and LaCroix, who live in Boyne City, say they were surprised to receive the invitation and canceled a scheduled trip to California so that they could go to Washington.

It's particularly gratifying for Barfield, who marched on the White House 20 years ago and returned his service medals from his time in the U.S. Navy to protest the military's former "don't ask, don't' tell" policy, which allowed gays to serve but not to be open about their sexual orientation. It was repealed in 2011.

"So now we're going to have cookies and milk with the chief executive?" he said. "We're always going to be in shock about this."

The federal Defense of Marriage Act lets states refuse to recognize gay marriages performed in states that allow them, although the law is being challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court. The outcome of that case could affect a pending suit in Detroit that contends Michigan's ban violates the U.S. Constitution.