Saipan, CNMI — Three years after same-sex marriages were legalised in the Northern Marianas, the Saipan Mayor's Office say that they have topped heterosexual marriages on the island.

The figures are based on the marriage licenses issued by the municipality.

From January through September 2018, the mayor's office conducted a total of 96 same-sex marriages, 59 of which were female and 37 male.

Within the same span, the office recorded only 31 heterosexual marriages.

Same-sex marriages outnumbering heterosexual, or marriages between the opposite sex, have been a trend on Saipan the past couple of years since 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court made it legal.