Conde Vidal v. Garcia Padilla (formerly known as Conde Vidal v. Rius Armendariz)

March 2014 Attorney Ada Mercedes Conde Vidal files a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico seeking the recognition of her marriage to her wife Ivonne Álvarez, entered into in Massachusetts.

June 2014 Lambda Legal files an amendment to Conde v. Rius Armendariz, adding four more plaintiff couples and an organizational plaintiff, Puerto Rico Para Tod@s. Two of the additional plaintiff couples are legally married in other jurisdictions, and two plaintiff couples are unmarried and need the freedom to marry in Puerto Rico.

October 2014 The district court dismissed the case. Lambda Legal filed a notice of appeal with the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

March 2015 Puerto Rican government drops opposition to marriage for same-sex couples.

June 2015 Lambda Legal calls on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to strike down the ban on marriage in Puerto Rico in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling declaring marriage bans across the country unconstitutional.

July 2015 U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit vacates the district court’s ruling in Conde-Vidal v. Rius-Armendariz.

March 2016 U.S. District Court of the District of Puerto Rico rules that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges striking down discriminatory marriage bans nationwide does not apply to Puerto Rico because it is not a state.

March 2016 Lambda Legal files a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit asking the court to make clear that the ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges applies to Puerto Rico.

April 2016 U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirms that Puerto Rico’s marriage ban is unconstitutional and orders the District Court of Puerto Rico to enter judgment in favor of Lambda Legal’s plaintiffs and orders that the case be reassigned to a different district court judge.

April 2016 Victory! New judge, District Court Judge Gustavo A. Gelpí issues a judgment striking down that ban.