Register | Login

Search results for one, step, closer, equality, gays, aletorros, blog

by Kathy DraskyThe story in this video was first brought to our attention last week on Facebook. It is a story not unlike so many of ours. Josh, an American, married Henry, who is from Venezuela, in a state that recognizes gay marriages (Connecticut) last year. We all know the drill - if Josh was "Jane", he would have been able to petition the federal government to sponsor his husband for a green card. While there may be a waiting period and even an "investigation", the couple would not be looking down the barrel of being forced apart, and would most likely end up living happily ever after in the US.But Josh is a man and so is Henry, and as another Congressional session comes to a close with more co-sponsors of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) than ever before, but still no debate, much less a floor vote and our secure inclusion in Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) as "iffy
On Monday, President Obama said in a radio interview on Univision that he would push for overhaul of our immigration policies after the midterms. Some strategists have argued that this is the best way for the Democrats in to shore up its base and divide the Republicans before the 2012 presidential race.This campaign season, the controversial Arizona law brought immigration reform to the forefront of our national conversation and highlighted a key distinction between the parties. Tea Party candi
This isn't the historic announcement that many are hoping for, but it is a sign that when it comes to the issue of marriage equality, President Obama might be shifting his political position.Perhaps this doesn't come as a surprise, especially for those who always thought that President Obama's opposition to gay marriage was rooted more in politics than principle. Indeed, in the late 1990s, President Obama (then a candidate for the Illinois State Legislature) indicated that he supported the righ
by Mark GerardyBack on election day 2008, it was a great day - a Democrat president after an eight-year hiatus, a Democrat-majority in the House and Senate, many Democrat governors, almost everything was perfect - except California's anti-gay Proposition 8 narrowly passed.Wouldn't it be nice to be able to get everything that you want in one full-swoop?Some elections, it has been good just to get anything that you want. Any victory, anywhere. Rarely, if ever, does anyone get every single thing that they want, either for Christmas or on Election Day. It's life.Election Day 2010 probably will not be as good as 2008, and there will be fewer presents. I am fairly certain that despite my best efforts, unfortunately one of the Colorado Senate seats will go to openly-homophobic Republican Ken Buck. Between that and less Democrats in the Senate and House, things are not going to look very good f
NEW BLOG OF THE WEEK!!!!! The DEPORTATION. I describe how Fabienne got deported in the Canada/USA border. Please check it out. This is a very hard time in our lives. We discover the hard way how unfair, cruel and broken our immigration system is. I also talk about of how and when we met, how my friends loved her, how she changed me, places we traveled, etc... I also have a facebook page called Gay marriage and immigration equality. please fell free to check it out.
I have pictures and videos as well. before all this happened I had no idea that things like these happens in the USA. The reason I am doing all this is to educate people about it. Feel free to send me your links, blogs, pages, etc. related to this topic. I am very interested to learn from everybody experience and we can all share and learn from each other.
Not that Giannoulias doesn't deserve HRC's endorsement, or your vote. He sounds like he does!: "As the next senator from the great state of Illinois, I will lead the fight for equality — for marriage equality, for an end to DOMA, for employment non-discrimination, and for immigration reform that treats same-sex couples fairly."

If you can't count on the Human Rights Campaign to effectively lobby lawmakers to actually effect change, at the very least you can, say, use their Corporate Equality Index to decide whether your contribution to climate change should be backed by the gay-friendly Chevron or the gay-hating ExxonMobil. And then there's HRC's recommendations for who you should vote for, which, with Rep. Mark Kirk, it just proved you shouldn't really trust either.
A new poll released by the University of Washington shows a surge in support for marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples.

We need to make sure that voters in Washington understand that until Washington State issues marriage licenses to its gay and lesbian citizens we will not be able to make progress towards these important federal protections such as social security, immigration rights, and equal treatment under the IRS tax code."
The debate over whether same-sex couples should be included in the immigration overhaul is resurfacing, threatening to break the fragile coalition supporting it.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) is holding a press conference Monday to announce that he wants to extend family immigration benefits to binational gay couples. The representative leading the charge on immigration had not included that community in his original proposal unveiled last year. ...

"This proposal threatens to undermine the opportunity to bring together the Congress and the American people around a common solution to the important challenge of immigration reform," the group said in a statement.

The gay rights issue could also alienate Evangelical leaders who could sway moderate Democrats and Republicans to support immigration.

Liberal factions in the coalition argue tha
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.

You're from the United States. You fall in love with a foreign national. Straight couples have legal recourse in this situation: get married and sponsor your spouse for citizenship.

Gay couples in this situation have no legal recourse, an issue that SF Weekly recently highlighted with the stories of several same-sex couples who were separated by US immigration law, or had one partner living in the United States illegally.

Because the federal Defense of Marriage Act prohibits legal recognition of same-sex relationships, couples married in California, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont can't sponsor their spouses for citizenship either.

Democrats in the Senate have included a provision for same-sex couples in their immigration reform proposal released April 29, which will give them the same immigration rights as straight cou
On January 28, 2009, there was a knock on Shirley Tan's door. The mother of two, originally from The Philippines, was starting her morning as usual.
Gay immigrants will be helped by immigration reform, even if it doesn’t allow gay Americans to sponsor their partners. But should you support a bill that excludes LGBT families?

When thousands of marchers descend on the National Mall this Sunday to rally support for immigration reform, hundreds of them will be representing the LGBT population.

“Immigration Equality has registered 200 marchers and has also learned that an additional 100 LGBT advocates will be coming to D.C. by bus to join us at the march,” Steve Ralls, director of communications for the organization, said Tuesday. “We’re now expecting a contingent of more than 300, standing for LGBT immigrants and families on the National Mall.”

Immigration activists hope to impress upon Congress that they expect to see action taken on immigration reform this year, even as President Barack Obama dec
On Friday, the Federal District (as Mexico City is referred to in Mexico) also announced that an Italian national - Mirko Mazardo - and his Mexican partner - Rodrigo Cervantes - were granted the right to marry through the country's immigration office. Mazardo and Cervantes had been living together in Italy for more than 10 years. It's not clear, from the CNN article, if this means that bi-national same-sex partners who decide to marry in Mexico City will be granted immigration rights.
There are six Congressional Hispanic Caucus Members who are also members of the Equality Caucus that have cosponsored both DOMA repeal and the Uniting American Families Act. Among those Congressional Hispanic Caucus Members, ..Over the weekend we learned that Congressman Gutierrez’s comprehensive immigration bill would not include LGBT families after much efforts from leading national LGBT organizations. The Roll Call article claims the pushback came from “Hispanic leaders more focused on keeping religious leaders on board with the plan.”

Now we are told we must wait until an amendment is made to the bill (remember when we were told to wait until the end of the year for ENDA?) when it comes before the Judiciary Committee in February of next year, a move supported by Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Polis (D-CO-2).
Immigration Equality, a non-profit advocacy and legal aid organization serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and HIV-positive immigrants and their families, announced today that it has established a “501(c)4” entity, the Immigration Equality Action Fund, to significantly increase its federal advocacy and grassroots organizing work. The Action Fund’s launch also includes an expanded office in Washington, D.C., where a new policy staffer and an online grassroots organizer will soon join the organization.

“The launch of the Immigration Equality Action Fund comes at a critical moment in our work to advocate on behalf of LGBT immigrant families,” said Rachel B. Tiven, the organization’s executive director. “As Congress turns its attention to comprehensive immigration reform, and as a record number of lawmakers signal their support for the Uniting American Families A

Username:

Password:

Remember:

Follow on Twitter
Feedburner

Subscribe with Bloglines

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.