Marriage equality on the reservation.

• Position: ON THE LINE - Brief article

Most LGBT Americans gained the right to wed in June. But for Ak-Chin tribal member Cleo Pablo (left), that right exists only outside the borders of her central Arizona Indian reservation. Ak-Chin is among the majority of America's 567 tribes that do not recognize same-sex marriage. They don't have to: As sovereign nations, they're not bound by court decisions from elsewhere --including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Cleo and her longtime partner, Tara Roy-Pablo, married in May after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit threw out Arizona's ban on same-sex unions. But Ak-Chin laws still don't acknowledge Cleo and Tara's marriage. The couple soon discovered they couldn't live together in Cleo's home on the reservation, since cohabitation in tribal housing by unmarried couples is illegal. But if they moved off tribal lands, her income would no longer be exempt from federal taxes.

In September, after talks with the Ak-Chin Tribal Council proved...