Puerto Rico Has Become a Gay Marriage Battleground

The governor of Puerto Rico, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, rejected a decision by a federal judge Wednesday to uphold the U.S. territory's ban on same-sex marriage despite the U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows gay couples to marry anywhere in the United States.

The two conflicting decisions created confusion about whether same-sex marriage is allowed or not in Puerto Rico.

“One might be tempted to assume that the constant reference made to the ‘States’ in Obergefell includes the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,” Federal Judge Juan Perez-Gimenez said in a ruling Tuesday. “Yet it is not the role of this court to venture into such an interpretation.”

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However, on Wednesday, Governor Garcia said he would not observe Tuesday's ruling by the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico, but rather follow rulings that higher courts have previously issued on the matter.

Less than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision, Garcia authorized gay marriage through an executive order in June 2015.

Two months later, a panel of judges approved marriage equality in Puerto Rico by reversing a 2014 lower court ruling that upheld Puerto Rico’s marriage ban.

Several marriages have already taken place in the country and officials said their status would not be affected by the current legal row.

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Despite Garcia's order, same-sex marriage remains illegal under Puerto Rico's civil code, and a Puerto Rican lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy group released a statement Wednesday saying it is "disappointing to see a judge play with the lives and the wellbeing of families headed by LGBT couples.”

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According to the Associated Press, the U.S. territory recently extended other rights to same-sex couples, in December ruling that they can adopt children.

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