American Samoa questions gay marriage validity in territory

American Samoa stands as the only US territory to hold out against the recent Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage.
But as the Pacific island's attorney general reviews the decision, legal observers and gay rights advocates are saying it should go into effect immediately.
"It should be unquestioned," said Rose Cuison Villazor, a professor at University of California, Davis' law school and an expert on territorial law. "The Supreme Court's decision was pretty strong."
American Samoa Attorney General Talauega Eleasalo Ale, however, hasn't been ready to take that step.
"We're still reviewing the decision to determine its applicability to American Samoa, and I have no specific comments at this time," he said.

Asked if same sex marriage is legal in the territory, Ale said, "I don't know. We're reviewing the law."

US territories have some self-governance rights. The right to marry, however, isn't a question of self-governance, said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, staff attorney for national gay rights group Lambda Legal. "This is a question of individual right, individual liberty."
Other U.S. Territories have voluntarily complied with the Supreme Court decision.
In Puerto Rico, Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla signed an executive order soon after the ruling.
US Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp has said he would issue a similar executive order.
In Guam, there is no effort to ignore or challenge the ruling, said territorial legislative Vice Speaker Benjamin F. Cruz, who is gay. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is also supporting the decision.

As of Thursday, no one has applied for a same sex marriage license in American Samoa, according to the island's Office of Vital Statistics.
Christian churches with conservative social views dominate in American Samoa, home to about 50,000, and the government's motto is "Samoa, Let God Be First." Yet the territory has a tradition of embracing faafafine males who are raised as females and take on feminine traits.
There are many faafafine who aren't supportive of gay marriage out of "respect for our Samoan culture and religious beliefs," said well-known faafafine Princess Auvaa.