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GUAM HAS BECOME the first US territory to recognise same-sex marriage after a federal judge struck down the prohibition.
A district court judge issued the decision after a hearing this morning. It goes into effect at 8 am Tuesday, when gay couples can begin applying for marriage licences, the Pacific Daily News reported.
Attorneys representing the government of Guam said in a 18 May court document that “should a court strike current Guam law, they would respect and follow such a decision.”
The western Pacific island of Guam is not a US State but it elects one member to the US House of Representatives and its members are US citizens.
Guam, however, does not send any members in the US Senate and has no electoral college votes that select the US Presdident.
Two women, Loretta Pangelinan and Kathleen Aguero, filed the lawsuit in April after the 28-year-old women were denied a marriage licence.
They based their lawsuit on a Circuit Court of Appeals decision last year in favour of same-sex marriage. The US District Court of Guam falls under the Circuit Court.
Attorneys for the Guam plaintiffs had argued the territory must fall in line and accept marriage licence applications unless the US Supreme Court rules otherwise.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule this month whether same-sex marriage is a constitutional right. Currently, gay couples can marry in 36 states, the District of Columbia and now, Guam.
Lawyers for Guam Gov. Eddie Calvo and the Office of Vital Statistics registrar said making a decision when a ruling from the high court is imminent is impractical.
Guam Attorney General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson appointed an attorney to represent Calvo because they didn’t agree on the lawsuit; she was in favour of issuing licences.
Calvo has said the island’s same-sex marriage law is “being challenged by federal judges that were nominated by a U.S. president and confirmed by a U.S Senate, none of whom were elected through a process that included the people of Guam.”
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You can get some dodgy fifty euro notes in the south. This is old news, to me anyhow.
You are dead right Paul. You earn the money you decide how to spend it. If I lived closer to the border I would definitely shop north. The biggest reason for higher prices here is “rip off”. And to all the red thumb merchants. B******s.
Dead right, I buy Irish goods from Irish suppliers and English goods from English suppliers. Why should I buy English goods at inflated prices from an Irish middle man? Only exception I make is on the rare occasion when I have bought Irish goods in England cheaper than in Ireland. Now that’s wrong pricing somewhere surely! Source of origin on food labels is misleading and almost impossible to ascertain. For instance a food product can be imported from abroad and repackaged with a local suppliers ID labelling, so the country of origin is lost to the consumer.
Why tell them that? They are worse than the TD’s stealing from the people. People who shop in the north should go live up there and earn their living up there. If they ever need an ambulance , fire brigade, police, etc go and call the services up north as that is what you are doing by shopping up there. If you want to keep the few people who have jobs in work in the south ie your neighbour or family member than stay and pay a little towards their employment. Dare I suggest you reduce your purchases by 10% in the south and everybody would be better off. When I see the fat people from the south pushing trolled in the stores up north I think they could do with a lot less shopping.
I go up north and do some shopping. I did it last weekend actually! I spent 170 euro on beer, and a net book. Everything else was more or less the same price or cheaper down south. But I didn’t go up north to save money ( although I did ) I went up for the day out. I can’t afford holidays anywhere. I stay at my house for my holidays. I work and have practically zero left ( some months less than zero left) each month. I pay way more than my fair share of taxes and I am entitled to spend 175 euro while I am on my ( holidays).
I assume that you holiday at home, buy only Irish products every week?
Don’t judge me, you don’t know me! Besides, I believe in a United Ireland. Our government has cross border trade and governmental institutions set up. If our government says by it’s actions that it is ok then it’s ok by me. And another thing, the majority of the civil construction tenders are awarded by our government departments to northern construction companies because of price, so cop on and grow up.
I use PayPal for everything
Interesting that you judge me – I may be disabled for all you know! Construction workers are loosing jobs to northern contractors you say – I rest my case. When you are directly impacted it is wrong yet when our retailers and producers are impacted it is not a concern to you. It makes the case for the government shopping up north for cheaper contractors. I think it is wrong yet I am on my own on this I think.
We have plenty of fake banknotes down here. They are called “euros”.
Just use a credit card for shopping And pay it off in full, easiet way.
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