Virgin Islands

Island group of the Caribbean Leeward Islands

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2024 The U.S. Virgin Islands is named one of the best marriage destinations for same-sex couples in the Caribbean.
2015 Rick Weinstein and Tom Eggleston become the first same-sex couple to marry in the U.S. Virgin Islands, after being together for more than 40 years.
July 28 2015 Lieutenant Governor Potter signs the executive order, officially requiring all agencies to comply with the same-sex marriage ruling.
July 21 2015 First marriage licenses for same-sex couples are granted in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
July 13 2015 First same-sex couples apply for marriage licenses in the U.S. Virgin Islands, initiating the 8-day waiting period.
July 13 2015 Judge Dunston declares the Superior Court will issue marriage licenses to two same-sex couples who applied.
July 9 2015 Governor Kenneth Mapp signs an executive order requiring the government to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
July 9 2015 Governor Mapp signs the executive order, but Lieutenant Governor Osbert E. Potter is not present to attest to the signature.
June 30 2015 Governor Kenneth Mapp announces that the territorial government of the U.S. Virgin Islands will comply with the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling.
June 30 2015 Governor Kenneth Mapp announces he will issue an executive order directing government agencies to comply with the Obergefell ruling.
June 27 2015 Presiding Judge Michael Dunston of the Superior Court states the U.S. Virgin Islands will comply with the Supreme Court ruling, though marriage licenses might require statute amendments.
June 26 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decides Obergefell v. Hodges, invalidating bans on same-sex marriage under the Fourteenth Amendment.
June 26 2015 U.S. Supreme Court rules in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry under the Fourteenth Amendment, effectively legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
2014 One Voice Virgin Islands, a group of church leaders, forms to oppose the proposed same-sex marriage legislation and plans a petition drive to collect 50,000 signatures against the bill.
May 2014 Senator Judi Buckley introduces the Civil Marriage Equality Act to the Legislature of the Virgin Islands, proposing to replace gender-specific marriage language with gender-neutral terminology that would allow same-sex marriage.

This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Same-sex marriage in the United States Virgin Islands, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.