A District Court judge ruled earlier this week that the ban on same-sex marriage in Puerto Rico remains valid because it is an unincorporated territory.
District Court Judge Juan Pérez-Giménez previously upheld the ban in Puerto Rico before the SCOTUS ruling struck down bans on gay marriage nationwide. After the ruling, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that the ban in Puerto Rico was unconstitutional. Last July, the court vacated the district court ruling upholding the ban and sent it back to the district court for further consideration.
Back at the district court, a motion was filed noting that “in light of Obergefell v. Hodges and the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the parties hereby jointly move this Court to enter the enclosed proposed judgment in favor of Plaintiffs.” However on Monday, without any further briefing on the matter, Pérez-Giménez denied that request.
RELATED: Marriage Equality and the Court: What Happened in Puerto Rico?
According to Buzzfeed, Lambda Legal staff attorney Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, representing the plaintiffs in the case, said the latest ruling is “incongruent with the constitutional principles applicable to all persons in the United States, whether they live in a state or territory and whether they are straight or gay.”
He added:
“The U.S. Supreme Court has unequivocally stated that the constitutional promises of liberty and equality apply with equal force to residents of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit was clear when it stated that Puerto Rico's marriage ban was unconstitutional.”
Lambda Legal says it will appeal:
Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Staff Attorney for Lambda Legal, said in a statement:
The fundamental right to marriage applies across the United States, in states and territories alike. This aberrant and fundamentally flawed decision is out of step with the times and incongruent with the constitutional principles applicable to all persons in the United States, whether they live in a state or territory and whether they are straight or gay. The U.S. Supreme Court has unequivocally stated that the constitutional promises of liberty and equality apply with equal force to residents of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit was clear when it stated that Puerto Rico's marriage ban was unconstitutional. The fundamental right of LGBT people to marry in Puerto Rico is not in question.
We look forward to once again vindicating the rights of LGBT people on the Island and ensuring that loving couples in Puerto Rico have the dignity, fairness, and security under the law that they deserve. We will not stop fighting until all LGBT people and their families in the United States, including in Puerto Rico, have equal access to the protections of legal marriage. The constitutional mandates are clear: marriages licensed by the Commonwealth between LGBT couples are not in limbo; they are valid.
Read the ruling:
Courtesy of Equality Case Files
Watch a report on the fight for same-sex marriage in Puerto Rico below.
