(CNN) -- Gene Barfield and his partner, Tim LaCroix, celebrated their 30th anniversary by getting married. The two met when they were both serving in the Navy, and last week, the military veterans became the first same-sex couple to be legally married by a tribe in Michigan. The pair exchanged vows on a cold but sunny morning at the government headquarters of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. LaCroix is a citizen of the LTBB, a federally recognized Native American tribe. Earlier this month, the LTBB tribal council voted to recognize same-sex unions as long as at least one member of the couple was a citizen of the tribe. LaCroix and Barfield were married the same morning that the tribal chairman signed the legislation into law.
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Michigan tribe performs its first same-sex marriage ceremony
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The state of Michigan will not recognize the marriage
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Partners Gene Barfield and Tim LaCroix are optimistic the tide is shifting
In 2004, @placeholder approved a constitutional amendment legally defining marriage as being between a man and a woman.