PUERTO RICO: Federal Judge Declares Obergefell Ruling Does Not Apply To “Unincorporated Territories”

Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed:

Puerto Rico’s marriage ban remains valid and the law of the territory, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. Because Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory, the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex couples’ marriage rights does not automatically apply there, U.S. District Court Judge Juan Pérez-Giménez ruled in a 10-page decision.

The judge had previously upheld the marriage ban in Puerto Rico in October 2014, before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down marriage bans nationwide in Obergefell v. Hodges. After the Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell, both the plaintiffs and territory’s defendants agreed that the ban was now unconstitutional. So did the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, to whom the plaintiffs had appealed Pérez-Giménez’s ruling.

Lambda Legal reacts:

“The fundamental right to marriage applies across the United States, in states and territories alike,” said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Staff Attorney for Lambda Legal. “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.”