Navajo council overrides veto on same-sex marriage ban News
Navajo council overrides veto on same-sex marriage ban

[JURIST] The Navajo Nation's Tribal Council voted Friday to override Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr.'s [Navajo Nation profile] veto of a same-sex marriage ban [JURIST report] it approved last month for the UnitedS States' largest Indian reservation. The Dine Marriage Act of 2005 defined marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman. The vote on the veto override was 62-14 with one delegate explaining why gay marriage is forbidden by the Navajo ways: "It all boils down to the circle of life. We were put on this earth to produce offspring." The Navajo Nation [official website] has over 180,000 residents in areas of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Navajo President Shirley recently discussed gay marriage in Native America on Democracy Now [transcript and audio]. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Pope Urban II sparks First Crusade

Pope Urban II threw his support behind what would become the First Crusade on November 27, 1095 during the Council of Clairmont. The Pope urged the council's participants to render aid to the Byzantine Empire, which was being attacked by the Seljuks. Pope Urban called for a wide coalition of rich and poor to combat the threat, which eventually resulted in the conquest of much of the Muslim-controlled Levant by the Crusaders and the establishment of the Crusader States. Read Pope Urban's address.  

Catholic Code of Canon Law revised

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