Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla has announced that his government will honor the verdict of the US Supreme Court and follow Guam in becoming a US overseas territory that allows gay marriage.

Padilla made the announcement hours after the US Supreme Court released its verdict on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage on Friday but it went largely unnoticed amid the fanfare of marriage equality coming to all 50 US states.

Padilla signed an executive order requiring all Puerto Rican government agencies to become compliant with the court’s ruling within 15 days.

Puerto Rican marriage licenses are handled by the island’s Health Department and it is expected to start issuing them to same-sex couples in early July.

Puerto Rico’s Justice Secretary Cesar Miranda welcomed the court’s ruling, calling it a ‘huge step in the quest for equal rights.’

‘You cannot deny people the right to love,’ he added, according to the Associated Press.

However he cautioned it was too early to say whether the court’s ruling had also conferred the right for same-sex couples in Puerto Rico to adopt children.

There is no news yet out of the Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands or American Samoa as to whether those US overseas territories will also accept the court’s ruling and allow gay couples to marry.

However Guam became the first US overseas territory to allow gay marriage in a surprise move at the beginning of June in anticipation of the court’s ruling.