News Guide: Guam is first US territory with gay marriage

FILE - This April 8, 2015 file photo Loretta M. Pangelinan, 28, right, holds the application for a marriage license that she and her fiancee, Kathleen M. Aguero, 28, will turn in at the Office of Vital Statistics in the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services. A federal judge in Guam is scheduled to hear arguments Friday, June 5, 2015 in a lawsuit challenging the U.S. territory's same-sex marriage ban. If Guam allows gay marriage, it would be the first U.S. territory to do so. Pangelinan and Aguero filed the lawsuit in April after the women were denied a marriage license. (AP Photo/Grace O. Garces Bordallo, File) FILE - This April 8, 2015 file photo Loretta M. Pangelinan, 28, right, holds the application for a marriage license that she and her fiancee, Kathleen M. Aguero, 28, will turn in at the Office of Vital Statistics in the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services. A federal judge in Guam is scheduled to hear arguments Friday, June 5, 2015 in a lawsuit challenging the U.S. territory's same-sex marriage ban. If Guam allows gay marriage, it would be the first U.S. territory to do so. Pangelinan and Aguero filed the lawsuit in April after the women were denied a marriage license. (AP Photo/Grace O. Garces Bordallo, File)

By Associated Press June 5, 2015 3 min read

HAGATNA, Guam (AP) – Same-sex couples can begin applying for marriage licenses next week in Guam, which became the first U.S. territory to legalize gay marriage. A federal judge on Friday struck down the territory’s ban as unconstitutional.

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HOW IT HAPPENED

A lesbian couple sued April 13 after a registrar denied them a marriage license because Guam law defines marriage as between two people of the opposite sex.

Loretta M. Pangelinan, 28, and Kathleen M. Aguero, 29, based their lawsuit on a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in favor of same-sex marriage. The U.S. District Court of Guam falls under the 9th Circuit.