US: Ricky Martin disappointed after Puerto Rico judge upholds ban on same-sex marriage
Puerto Rican pop singer Ricky Martin says he is disappointed, after a district judge broke with consensus to maintain a ban on equal marriage.
Judges across the US have almost uniformly agreed that bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, after the Supreme Court struck down the Defence of Marriage Act last year.
However, District Judge Juan Perez-Gimenez dismissed a case against Puerto Rico’s same-sex marriage ban this week, becoming only the second to do so..
Out singer Ricky Martin – who has previously called for equal marriage in Puerto Rico – said: ”I regret the decision in Puerto Rico about [equal marriage], but I know that we will win the appeal. All the rights for all the love.”
In his ruling, Judge Perez-Gimenez cited a ruling from 1972 against same-sex marriage – which almost all other judges in the country agreed had been rendered obsolete by subsequent case law – and claimed: “Recent affirmances of same-gender marriage seem to suffer from a peculiar inability to recall the principles embodied in existing marriage law.”
However, the ruling is expected to be overturned on appeal, as it is considered extremely unlikely to stand up to scrutiny.
The Human Rights Campaign said: “[This] rogue ruling contradicts dozens of federal district and circuit court decisions over the last 15 months that have struck down discriminatory state marriage bans as unconstitutional – all based on Windsor.”
“Plain and simple, Judge Perez-Gimenez got it wrong. The US Constitution does not allow for such blatant discrimination as Puerto Rico’s law that keeps certain couples from marrying, just because they’re gay or lesbian.”
