Same-sex marriage in the Northern Mariana Islands


Same-sex marriage in the Northern Mariana Islands was legalized by the United States Supreme Court's landmark Obergefell v. Hodges ruling on June 26, 2015, which found it unconstitutional to restrict same-sex marriage rights. On June 29, Governor Eloy Inos hailed the decision as "historic" in a statement and said he would work with the Attorney General and local officials in the Northern Mariana Islands to bring the U.S. territory into compliance. Attorney General Edward Manibusan issued a memo on June 30 confirming that the territory is bound by the court decision, calling its statutes defining marriage between a man and a woman "illegal and unenforceable", and updating its marriage application to provide for same-sex couples.

History

There is no prohibition on same-sex marriage in the law of the territory, nor do the statutes specify the sex of the parties to a marriage between citizens of the Northern Mariana Islands. Other provisions assume the parties to a marriage are not of the same sex. With respect to a marriage involving one or more non-citizens, the statutes say: "The male at the time of contracting the marriage be at least 18 years of age and the female at least 16 years of age..." Statutes concerning divorce assume that the partners to a marriage are man and wife.
In December 2004, the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives voted 15-0 with 1 abstention in favor of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The constitutional amendment, however, failed to pass the Senate.
Decisions of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that found same-sex marriage bans in Nevada and Idaho unconstitutional were binding precedent on federal courts in the Northern Marianas before Obergefell v. Hodges. However, between October 2014 when the precedent came into effect, and June when the Supreme Court struck down all bans, no same-sex couple had filed suit in the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands to force the issue.

Marriage statistics

The Public Law 4-11 permits the Governor and local mayors to issue marriage licenses to "two noncitizens or between a noncitizen and a citizen". Since the legalization of same-sex marriage in June 2015, the Northern Mariana Islands has become a popular marriage destination for foreign same-sex couples, especially among Chinese tourists.
Saipan Mayor David Apatang conducted the first same-sex marriage in the territory on July 22, 2015, saying it was his "legal obligation" to perform the union. He said he was following the June 30 memorandum issued by the Attorney General. An updated version of the Northern Mariana Islands' marriage form provided by the Attorney General's office was used for the couple. By late August 2015, Apatang had performed three same-sex marriages.
12 same-sex couples married in 2015. By December 13, 2016, 25 couples had wed in Saipan. Most couples were from China, but there were also couples from South Korea and the Philippines.
14 same-sex marriages were performed in Saipan between January 1 and March 15, 2017. 88 same-sex marriages were performed in Saipan in all of 2017. Of these, 63 were between women and 25 between men.
The first same-sex marriage in Tinian was performed on June 24, 2017.
90 same-sex marriages were performed in Saipan in the first half of 2018. Of these, 61 were between women and 29 between men. Same-sex marriages accounted for 77% of all marriages performed on the island during that time. Most couples came from China, but there were also Russians, South Koreans and Bangladeshis.