(Portland, Oregon) A move by an Oregon Native American tribe to legalize same-sex marriage is being challenged by a tribal member.

The Coquille tribal council approved allowing two people, where at least one is a member of the tribe, to marry regardless of gender and to recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions performed in areas where they are legal.

Metcalf says the issue should have been put to a vote of all adults in the tribe - about 580 people.

Although he does not currently live on tribal land, Metcalf is mounting a campaign to force a vote. He needs about 200 signatures to do that.

Chief Ken Tanner says that under the Federal Indian Act, the band is not bound by Oregon’s 2004 constitutional amendment limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples.  But some legal analysts say that the tribe is likely bound by the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal government recognition of gay marriage.

A lesbian couple already is planning a tribal wedding next May.

Jeni and Kitzen Branting will be married at the tribe’s plankhouse - a common gathering place for the Coquilles. They said that they are inviting between 100 and 150 people.

Kitzen Branting is a member of the tribe, while Jeni Branting is not. The women say they don’t care if their marriage is not recognized beyond the tribal border.

It is generally believed that the Coquilles are the first Native American tribe to legalize same-sex marriage.

In May 2004, a lesbian couple in Oklahoma applied for and were issued a marriage certificate by the Cherokee Nation.  The couple wed shortly after that. The following year members of the tribal council went to court to fight challenge the legality of the marriage. In 2006, the Judicial Appeals Tribunal of the Cherokee Nation, the highest Cherokee court upheld the marriage, but the couple had never registered their marriage.