Gov. Fortuño told a group of religious leaders Friday that he plans to consult voters about the inclusion of a constitutional amendment that would declare the exclusivity of marriage as the union between a man and a woman and to veto any legislation that would lower from 16 to 14 years old the age for a minor to legally consent to have sexual relations.

Fortuño made his remarks during a speech to religious leaders at the Nueva Cosecha Church in Carolina where he sought the support of conservative groups to help reduce the island’s high crime rate. The proposed vote in favor of the constitutional amendment declaring the exclusivity of marriage between a man and a woman would be part of the proposed vote that would amend the Constitution to reduce the size of the Legislature.

While Puerto Rican laws already ban same-sex marriages and prohibit the recognition of same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions, religious organizations fear the laws could be changed by future governing administrations and thus are seeking a constitutional ban on gay marriages.

The global-wide trend appears to move towards the legalization of same-sex marriage as some countries, such as Portugal, Mexico and several U.S. states have already approved such laws. In the United States, gay marriage is legal in five states: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Previous attempts at the local Legislature to approve a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, such as the so-called Resolution 99, have failed.

Meanwhile, several lawmakers, such as New Progressive Party Rep. Liza Fernández and Popular Democratic Party Rep. Charlie Hernández, and Women’s Advocate Ivonne Feliciano want to reduce the age for a person to legally consent to have sexual relations to 14 years old, contending that the current law is criminalizing the behavior of teenagers stemming from sexual curiosity.

Gay rights activist Pedro Julio Serrano blasted the governor over his position on same-sex marriage. “Finally, we learn the truth about his posture on Resolution 99. For months, he hid behind a language so as not to appear that he was discriminating but he has now done the opposite … It is inconceivable for a governor to support having one group of citizens abused against a minority … As the world moves towards the recognition of same-sex rights, just as Portugal did, in granting today same-sex marriage, in Puerto Rico we want to perpetuate injustice and discrimination,” he said.

Serrano also blasted Fortuño for refusing to culminate the revision of the Civil Code. The governor has contended that there are other more important subjects than eradicating discrimination, Serrano said.