Thread: Gays Join Marches For Immigration Rights

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/09/090506immig.htm

Gays Join Marches For Immigration Rights
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

September 5, 2006 - 11:00 am ET


(Washington) Gays and lesbians joined marchers nationwide calling for a massive overhaul of immigration laws.

Congress has been grappling with dueling immigration bills amid calls for granting legal status to illegal immigrants to throwing them out of the country altogether.

For LGBT activists the issue is compounded by the refusal of the government to recognize binational same-sex couples.

"In my case, I'm an immigrant. I've been here for 8 years under a work visa. My partner 'cause she's female, cannot sponsor me to stay here." said Belinda Ryan who marched in San Francisco. "If I were a man she could sponsor me."

Similar marches were held in 17 cities across the country on Monday including Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Pittsburgh.

The 2000 U.S. Census estimated that in the United States there were almost 40,000 lesbian and gay couples in which one partner is a U.S. citizen (or permanent resident), and the other a foreign national.

The figure does not include the many thousands of binational couples who have to hide the fact they are partners, are forced to live apart, or who have been forced to leave the United States the report said, noting that under U.S. statutes, these couples have no recognition under the law.

In May, Human Rights Watch and Immigration Equality released a report showing thousands of U.S. citizens and their foreign same-sex partners face enormous hardships, separation and even exile because discriminatory U.S. immigration policies.

The 191-page report, “Family, Unvalued: Discrimination, Denial and the Fate of Binational Same-Sex Couples under U.S. Law,” is the first-ever comprehensive report on the issue.

For more than 50 years, family reunification has been a stated and central goal of U.S. immigration policy. Immigration law places a priority on allowing citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their spouses and close relatives for entry into the U.S.

U.S. citizens with foreign lesbian or gay partners, however, find that their relationships are considered non-existent under federal law.

The so-called “Defense of Marriage Act,” passed in 1996, declared that for all purposes of the federal government, marriage would mean “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” Since lesbian and gay couples are excluded from the definition of “spouse,” U.S. citizens receive no legal recognition of their same-sex partners for purposes of immigration.

LGBT activists called on Congress to pass the Uniting American Families Act. The bill, sponsored by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) would offer binational same-sex couples’ relationships the same recognition and treatment afforded to binational married couples.

The proposed law would add the term “permanent partner” to sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act where “spouse” now appears. If passed, a U.S. citizen or permanent resident could sponsor their permanent partner for immigration to the country, just as they can now sponsor such family members as siblings, children or husbands and wives.

The bill was introduced in the current Congress on June 21, 2005; it has a total of 104 cosponsors from both houses.

Sodom and Gommorah rises again!

In May, Human Rights Watch and Immigration Equality released a report showing thousands of U.S. citizens and their foreign same-sex partners face enormous hardships, separation and even exile because discriminatory U.S. immigration policies.

And they knew what the deal would be when they got into it.....so shut up!

No difference here they are breaking the law and should be deported.

I don't think gay people should be aligning themselves with the invaders but isn't it discrimination if a heterosexual can sponsor his / her partner but a homosexual can't? Perhaps I am being more Libertarian than some others on this thread.