Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia
Padilla on Wednesday declared that gay and lesbian couples can marry
in the territory despite a federal judge's ruling saying otherwise.
U.S. District Court Judge Juan
Perez-Gimenez ruled on Monday that the Supreme Court's June finding
in Obergefell v. Hodges that gay couples have a constitutional
right to marry does not apply to Puerto Rico because it is an
unincorporated territory.
(Related: Federal
judge says gay marriage ruling does not apply to Puerto Rico.)
The governor said in a statement that
he would abide by rulings issued by the Supreme Court and the Court
of Appeals for the First Circuit and ignore Judge Perez-Gimenez's
decision.
“I'm going to respect the rulings of
the higher courts which, thankfully, ordered matters to proceed much
differently than Judge Perez-Gimenez,” he said.
Puerto Rico's Justice Department said
in a statement that the marriages of gay couples were
valid and called marriage equality a “fundamental right.”