Guam Attorney General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson
Two days after first ordering Guam’s Department of Public Health and Social Services to begin issuing marriage licenses, territory Attorney General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson called the island’s ban on same-sex marriage “indefensible,” according to the Guam Pacific Daily News.
The ban remains in place while the governor’s office reviews the issue.
Guam falls under the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has ruled in favor of marriage equality. The AG issued her order based on the 9th Circuit ruling ordering marriage equality. All nine states that fall under the 9th Circuit’s jurisdiction have marriage equality. Only the 9th Circuit’s Pacific territories — Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands — do not.
The AG’s order came two days after a lesbian couple filed a lawsuit against the governor and the registrar of Public Health’s Office of Vital Statistics to issue them a marriage license.
