Same-sex marriage in Guam

Guam, an unincorporated territory of the United States, began licensing and recognizing same-sex marriages on June 9, 2015, following a ruling of the District Court of Guam on June 5, 2015, that held the territory's prohibition of same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

Guam was the first overseas territory of the United States to recognize same-sex marriage. On August 27, 2015, the Marriage Equality Act passed by the Guam Legislature came into effect, officially incorporating the federal court ruling into statutory law.

The Guam Organic Act of 1950, an Act of the United States Congress, does not address the question of marriage. Since August 2015, Guam's marriage statutes have recognised the marriages of same-sex couples. Previously a 1994 law specifying the responsibilities of the Guam department of Public Health defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

That law, which contained a prohibition on marriage "between uncles and nieces or aunts and nephews", arguably showed Guam anticipated only recognising only opposite-sex marriages. The law stipulated that parties "must declare in the presence of the person solemnizing the marriage that they take each other as husband and wife." With respect to marriages from other jurisdictions, the statues stated:

All marriages contracted outside of the territory of Guam, which would be valid by the laws of the country in which the same were contracted, are valid in the territory of Guam.

The 1994 law, which set standards and procedures for the Guam Department of Public Health, included this definition:

Marriage means the legal union of persons of opposite sex. The legality of the union may be established by civil or religious regulations, as recognized by the laws of Guam.

Federal courts in Guam are subject to the precedents set in 2014 by the decisions of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Latta v. Otter and Sevcik v. Sandoval, which found Idaho's and Nevada's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples unconstitutional. The District Court of Guam noted this precedent in its June 2015 ruling permanently enjoining Guam officials from enforcing the 1994 law "or any other laws or regulations to the extent they prohibit otherwise qualified same-sex couples from marrying in Guam".

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