Six presidential candidates pledge to repeal Navajo same-sex marriage ban
WINDOW ROCK
The Navajo Nation’s ban on same-sex marriage remains law, but a legal opinion issued last fall already directs the Executive Branch to recognize same-sex marriages performed outside the Navajo Nation for employment benefits and spousal rights.
That legal question shaped a May 23 presidential forum in Phoenix, where six candidates said they would sign legislation repealing the ban if elected.
The Navajo Two-Spirit LGBTQIA+ Leadership Forum was held at the Native American Urban Ministry. Six of the 16 candidates who filed for president attended, including Justin Jones, Jordon J. Begay, Alexander Chambers, Debbie Nez-Manuel, Andrew Curley and Speaker Crystalyne Curley.
Organizers described it as the first forum focused on Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ issues involving candidates for any tribal presidency.
Forum coordinator Trudie Jackson, who ran for Navajo Nation president in 2022, described herself as an openly transgender Diné woman who has lived in Phoenix since attending Phoenix Indian School in 1984.
“I don’t want the next generation to go through what I went through,” Jackson said, recalling that for years she “could not go home because of who I was.”
Ten candidates did not attend, including incumbent President Buu Nygren, former Vice Presidents Myron Lizer and Frank Dayish Jr., Kevin Cody, Arvin Trujillo, Tom Chee, Larry Noble, Emily Ellison, Johnny Russell Jr. and Donovan Begay.
To read the full article, please see the May 28, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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