PUERTO RICO: Government Considers Ending Opposition To Same-Sex Marriage

Via El Nuevo Dia:

The government of Puerto Rico is contemplating announcing this week a change of position and withdrawing its support for the Puerto Rican statute that recognizes marriage only as the union between a man and a woman. The position of the government of Puerto Rico is under review in the face of the written arguments that will be presented no later than Friday as part of the appeal process of the federal case in which five gay couples asked the U.S. judicial system to validate the marriage rights that some of them achieved in states of the United States and that for others would let them marry on the Island.

But the mere decision to reevaluate the public policy of the Executive of Puerto Rico points to the likelihood that the administration of Alejandro García Padilla is getting on the wave that has validated marriage between couples of the same sex in 37 states and Washington, D.C. "I'd prefer not to comment on any final decision," said Justice Secretary César Miranda, in an interview with El Nuevo Día. Asked if they are rethinking their support for the statute that only recognizes marriage as the union between one man and one women, Miranda responsed that "you can say that."

Puerto Rico is under the jurisdiction of the First Circuit Court of Appeals, which set the briefing schedule in the marriage equality case back in December.