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Love Exiles. Passionate about equality of binational gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender families. December 6, 2009. To a mayor from a mayor in exile. Posted by loveexiles under equal rights for families · Leave a Comment ...
In politics, love can be problematic. (Just ask South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.) Add being openly gay to the mix and problems can become scandals. But something odd happened when the mayor of San Angelo, Texas followed his gay heart.

J. W. Lown absconded to Mexico to be with his same-sex lover, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. But where one would have expected to find fiery outrage, there was a surprsing calm, according to Texas Monthly....
As details about J.W. Lown’s predicament emerge, it becomes clearer that the former mayor showed extraordinarily poor judgment in the decisions he made in resigning suddenly and relocating to Mexico with his partner.

The effects on San Angelo have been considered fully since his departure on May 19, the day he was to be sworn in for his fourth term. More recently it has become evident that the impulsiveness of his actions — which were out of character for San Angelo’s youngest mayor — adversely affected his own future. Even after Lown made public that his partner was here illegally, the process of deporting the man might have taken years. At any rate, immigration lawyers say he would have been in a better position for applying for legal status from here than from Mexico.

According to an immigration lawyer who commented for a story in Sunday’s Standard-Times, t
AP - In this Saturday, May 9, 2009, photo San Angelo Mayor J.W. Lown greets arriving supporters to his election party at the Old Chicken Farm Art Center in San Angelo,Texas. Lown resigned suddenly May 19 and offered a stunning explanation: He was in love with a man who was an illegal immigrant and had gone to Mexico.

The mayor of this West Texas sheep ranching town offered a stunning explanation when he suddenly resigned: He was in love with a man who was an illegal immigrant and had gone to Mexico.
They had to move, he said, because there was no legal way for them to remain together in the United States.
"It wasn't a decision that any U.S. citizen should have to make," former Mayor J.W. Lown said in an interview from Mexico. "I left a home. I left a ranch. I left a promising political career."
His local prominence and his run for the border on the day h
Former San Angelo Mayor J.W. Lown resigned earlier this month in order to live with his partner in Mexico. Unlike a heterosexual couple who could resolve these dilemmas through marriage, same-sex couples simply do not have that option. "Our families are constantly faced with that kind of horrible decision; to give up their lives in the [United States] or give up their partner," she said.

"It’s really a matter of fundamental fairness," Neilson said. "The immigration system is centered on the family unity, but the government fails to recognize our families."
Although a few states acknowledge the relationships of same-sex couples through marriage and civil unions, federal law, which does not extend this recognition, forbids gays and lesbians to sponsor their undocumented spouse to legally immigrate into the country.

"You still have conflict with the feder
f U.S. marriage policies extended to all consenting adults and U.S. immigration policy included the right for gay families to petition for their loved ones, Lown and his partner would not have had to leave the U.S. Were our laws set up to honor loving partnerships between consenting adults regardless of gender or sexuality, they could have made a legal commitment to one another that reflected their emotional one; that commitment would have extended the rights of citizenship accordingly. There is no telling how many immigrants and bi-national families have left this country because of these unequal standards.

While Lown and his partner’s plan should garner him a visa to re-enter, as long as no one puts a hold on his application for staying beyond the terms of his original education visa, visas are temporary. And U.S immigration policy continues to exclude queer families eve
UAFA- Uniting Immigration Act cannot come fast enough. See how you can get involved. This has nothing to do with marriage equality - at this point - the quicker route to immigration equality is the passage of UAFA. ...
It highlights the urgent need to pass the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) when Obama tackles immigration reform. There are thousands of gay Americans who have foreign-born partners but because of DOMA and current policies they can ...
The Uniting American Families Act is intended to address the problem by allowing U.S. citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their same-sex partners for family-based immigration purposes. UAFA was introduced in Congress by Sen. ...J.W. Lown, mayor of the west Texas city of San Angelo, has resigned in order to be with his partner, a Mexican national who does not currently have legal status in the United States. According to the San Angelo Standard-Times:

Lown said in a telephone call late Wednesday afternoon from Mexico that he has started a relationship with someone who does not have legal status in the United States. Lown said he did not want to take the oath of office knowing he was “aiding and assisting” someone who was not a citizen. “I made the final decision when I knew it was the right decision to make for me and my partner and our future - and for the community
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom submitted a resolution Wednesday to the Board of Supervisors that would urge the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the U.S. Census Bureau to recognize same-sex couples in the 2010 Census.
San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom brings ideas to valleyThe Desert Sun, CAMarriage equality is an issue that resonates with many in the Palm Springs area, which is home to one of the largest gay populations per capita in the United States. About 1200 same-sex couples married in the Coachella Valley during the four months ...
Gay immigration bill reintroduced. WASHINGTON, D.C. - Gay and civil rights groups applauded the reintroduction of the Uniting American Families Act, which would grant binational same-sex couples equal treatment under immigration laws by ...

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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.