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The press has made much of how evangelicals -- remember, those people who only care about abortion and same sex marriage! -- are embracing a bigger agenda and breaking ranks with Republicans by endorsing comprehensive immigration reform.

But as I reported on Monday, that support comes with a caveat: no equality for gay and lesbian couples.

Now religious groups who support LGBT equality have pushed back, issuing a statement through the group Immigration Equality Action Fund condemning evangelical efforts to exclude the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) from a comprehensive reform package.

I have been an ardent critic of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ever since the trifecta of Gov. David Paterson, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plucked Gillibrand from the relative obscurity of New York’s 20th congressional district and anointed her to replace Clinton in the senate.

Gillibrand is a conservative Democratic, an outspoken advocate of gun ownership who enjoys a perfect 100% NRA rating. She believes gay marriage equality should be left to the states to decide and, voted against legislation to grant same-sex partners of U.S. citizens the same immigration status of married couples. Needless to say, Gillibrand’s politics are antithetical to mine.
The more discussion I've seen on this dust-up, the less I'm inclined to support same-sex marriage. I don't support mixed-sex marriage either, after all. Far from being a matter of equality, as the advocates of same-sex marriage keep saying, marriage is a matter of inequality: inequality between the spouses, and inequality between married couples and other family arrangements -- or between married couples and single persons. One commenter at Alison Bechdel's blog, for example, complained that she and her English partner cannot be together because of the Defense of Marriage Act, which prevents them from being "married in the eyes of the federal government and therefore she has no immigration rights." As the writer said, this is "heartbreaking," but why should someone have to get married to get "immigration rights"? (She didn't explain why she doesn't move to England, where she could marry
I’m profoundly disappointed in President Obama. For several days, I’ve been trying to write this post to explain. The first version was basically outraged anger. The next attempted to be more neutral. Now? I’m beyond disappointed.

There are two huge problems with this: First, the DoJ absolutely does not always defend all laws, especially when they’re indefensible or clearly in conflict with presidential policy (Obama called DOMA “abhorrent”). But even accepting their claim, they didn’t have to use anti-gay arguments to do so, and that’s my focus here.

As Richard Socarides, former Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton, put it, “There was no need to invoke legal theories that were not only offensive on their face, but which could put at risk future legal efforts on behalf of our civil rights.”
Who is really pointing the dagger to the heart of immigration reform, the senator who seeks to include permanent partners (including gays) or the Bishops and evangelicals who oppose it? As Julia Preston reported in the New York Times a week ago, the powerful chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, has set off a huge and mainly behind-the-scenes panic among certain religious supporters of so-called comprehensive immigration reform. Bishop John Wester, who heads the Catholic bishops’ Committee on Migration, wrote to the Congressional committee chairs who are beginning to work on immigration that Leahy’s Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) would “erode the institution of marriage and family.”

And just how “comprehensive” will immigration reform be if it fails to address the special horror of loving, stable bi-national couples being torn apart becaus
The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which provides a path to citizenship for same-sex couples where one of the partners is not a legal resident, is coming under fire from religious groups saying the act threatens overall immigration reform and undermines traditional marriage
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council is urging constituents to call their senators and vote against the bill:

Yesterday, while I was on the Hill meeting with a handful of senators, I learned that FRC’s noise on the immigration bill, S. 424 [UAFA], is having a considerable impact. After your calls and emails started pouring in, one leader told me the legislation, which would give a special resident status to same-sex partners, had become an embarrassing “spectacle.” Although the bill is still active, finding support for it will be even tougher now that FRC has shined the light on its r
A pro-family activist says it is "ridiculous" that California Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced legislation designed to help an illegal alien who is a lesbian remain in the U.S.

The case involves 43-year-old Philippines national Shirley Tan, who came to the United States on a visitor's visa in 1989. She overstayed that visa and has been living in a lesbian relationship with a naturalized citizen in Pacifica, California.

Immigration authorities have ordered her to leave the country, but at the urging of homosexual rights groups Senator Diane Feinstein (D-California) intervened, arguing that if Tan's homosexual partner was a man, they could marry, and she could be eligible for residency.

Feinstein has now introduced an emergency immigration bill on behalf of Tan. That means Tan cannot be deported unless Congress votes down the legislation or it is allowed to expire witho
...from the religious right in an attempt to fight the granting of marriage equality to the GLBT ... Crooks and Liars wrote about how immigration...
Moderator: Rosa Ortiz. Yasmin Nair: Overview of LGBTQ immigration organising, Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), HIV ban and asylum options...

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Promoting public awareness of the need for fairness in immigration policy particularly as it relates to the rights of same-sex bi-national couples in the United States who seek equal immigration rights; Providing information regarding political issues relating to gay immigration equality issues, rights and policy.