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“I don’t want to be an activist,” Josh Vandiver, a 29-year-old gay man explained.A Harvard graduate completing his Ph.D. at Princeton, with a focus on comparative ancient Greek and Renaissance political theory, Vandiver said, “I want to finish up my dissertation and become a professor… I’m a reclusive scholar. I like to be in the library all day.”Cristina Ojeda, a 24-year-old lesbian who came to the US from Mexico when she was 11 and became a citizen at the same time her father did, has more experience with LGBT causes. As an undergraduate at the University of California at Santa Cruz, she found herself amidst a politically charged student body. “It was natural to be involved,” she said.Still, when Ojeda, who grew up in California, moved to Buffalo to get a master’s in social work at SUNY, she found an apartment off campus in a low-income neighborhood where she felt uneasy leading a vis
In this week’s print edition, Gay City News laid out its endorsements in November 2 races for state offices in New York, some of which remain competitive, especially for the State Senate.At the federal level, the major risk facing the LGBT community is the potential for Democrats losing control of the House of Representatives. Though Democrats are also expected to see their 59-41 edge in the Senate whittled considerably, the party is widely expected to hold on there.Loss of the House or of both chambers would deal a devastating blow to efforts to move forward on significant gay political goals — most prominent among them:repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (should the Senate fail to complete action in the lame duck session);passage of a transgender-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act;enactment of immigration reform that includes the right of same-sex binational couples to have a for
A resolution supporting the federal bill that would allow gay U.S. citizens to sponsor their partners for a visa passed the California Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday and now heads to the Senate floor for a vote.

Our cover story this week, "Worlds Apart," tells the story of three Bay Area couples whose lives would be changed by the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), a federal bill that allows "permanent partners" to be treated the same as straight spouses in immigration matters. Currently, gay couples have no legal pathway to sponsor their foreign partners to stay in the country.


While the federal UAFA bill is on hold while lawmakers decide whether to include it in the comprehensive immigration reform, California legislators such as Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) introduced a resolution last year urging the U.S. Congress to pass the s
Just a few weeks ago, the likelihood of Congress and the White House tackling comprehensive immigration reform seemed to be in question. Following the defeat of a Democratic candidate in the Massachusetts Senate election, and growing doubts about a successful healthcare reform effort in both chambers, the prospects for a truly comprehensive reform effort that would fix our country's broken immigration system was called into question by many.
Now, however, there is renewed energy and focus on the issue. And that, in turn, must be a wake-up call, and a rallying cry, for the LGBT community, too.
On Sunday, March 21st, thousands will march in Washington for March for America, to call on Congress for comprehensive immigration reform. Please join NCLR and Immigration Equality and send a message that comprehensive reform must include LGBT families too!

Current immigration policy unfairly discriminates against LGBT binational couples by not allowing U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to sponsor foreign-born partners for immigration. We must call on Congress for the swift passage of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), proposed legislation that would provide LGBT couples with the same immigration benefits as different-sex couples.
So far the votes are not there to undo DOMA, and an immigration reform bill set to be taken up by a House committee early next year does not include any LGBT language. The out lawmakers did say they believe when the House does schedule a vote on immigration reform the final version of the bill will include the pro-gay provisions for LGBT binational couples.
What the bill does not include is language for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families.
When it comes to immigration rights, detail the rampant fraud associated with religious workers visas and point out that there is no threat from same sex binational couples. With the LDS Church, point out their racist past and point out ...

At rallies today in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Fresno marking the somber first anniversary of the passage of Proposition 8 in California, organizers will announce the launch of the first major fundraising campaign to place a marriage equality initiative on the California ballot in November 2010.

Organized by Yes! on Equality and TruthandHope.org, in collaboration with Restore Equality 2010, the goal of the “Million for a Million” campaign is to raise the $1 million necessary to fund getting the more than one million signatures needed to place a marriage equality initiative on the ballot.

Undaunt
If I take it on, and it will be at no charge, will you be willing to stand up for UAFA? ”Jay did not think for even a moment when she responded, “Melanie, if we can keep Shirl here we will do anything for UAFA.” ... This adventure to D.C., now their second was sponsored by Immigration Equality. Who would have thought where that one call by Molly would lead. It just goes to show what going that extra mile can do. So well done Tan Mercado family you have been true to your ...
Even as he put the chances of moving a gay marriage bill in Albany this fall at “zero, zero,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg argued that he has the political clout to win support from key New York Republican state senators, including two from the city who are vociferous in their opposition.

As early as 2005, the mayor pledged to lobby the Legislature to enact marriage equality legislation passed twice since then by the State Assembly and actively pushed by Governor David A. Paterson. In a series of high profile appearances this year, Bloomberg has reiterated that commitment.
Good news on the DOMA front. Human Rights Campaign looks to be getting serious about repealing DOMA. They're now starting a campaign to make it happen. 50,000 of you took our survey on how the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) harms families. And with Congress back in session this week, we personally delivered your responses – and thousands of heartfelt comments – to help build the case for repealing this discriminatory law. Now is the time to really put the pressure on and tell Congress it’s time to Repeal DOMA Now (which is coincidentally the name of our new campaign).

In the past year, tens of thousands of loving same-sex couples have legally been married in Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont. And with new laws soon to take effect in New Hampshire and Maine, thousands more will surely join them. Enacted in 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act purports to
I think the broader LGBT community forgets about looking for commonalities sometimes. Think for a moment about immigration reform; there is a whole community of immigration advocates that the LGBT community could work with to help to make same-sex/same gender partner sponsorship possible. If members in the LGBT community care about the progressive immigration reform issues, and work with the organizations that promote immigration reform, we could use our commonalities to build a stronger, more powerful coalition. The LGBT community's partner sponsor issue could become part of a broader immigration reform bill; and in the process of LGBT people working for immigration reform, our broader LGBT community issues could become immigration advocates' issues.I'm happy to support the Uniting American Families act - the law that specifically relates to LGBT families. I won't go any past that unle
In a nutshell, nothing's changed. Obama wants us to believe that immigration reform remains a high priority even though it keeps getting pushed further and further back on the calendar, Napolitano's still on board and advocates are still hopeful and waiting for something to happen. If anyone's still holding their breath expecting some measurable movement on the issue, they might as well relax--at least for a few months....
Of course in this day and age, marriage between two people of the same sex or gender isn't just a matter of love, like it or not it's a matter of politics. The Dutch parliamentarian Boris Dittrich, who in 1994 introduced the Netherlands' first gay marriage bill and now is an advocacy director at New York's Human Rights Watch, was on hand for the festivities and kept the light of reality shining. "We want to show to the American public that gay couples cannot get immigration, cannot get equal rights like heterosexual couples can" Dittrich said. Uniteing American Families Act, anyone?

Although these newleyweds' civil marriages won't be recognized by the US federal government or most state governments, they will be recognized by New York state thanks to Governor David Patterson's executive order of May 14, 2008. Marriage equality legislation already passed in the New York
he infamously helped defeat uafa when he was a senator, saying he supported it in theory but the legislation was prone to abuse (which was hogwash). so, will he be pressuring congress to keep this out of the comprehensive immigration ...Hopefully the majority of the LGBT community will be support an inclusive CIR. Any LGBT persons not supporting immigration reform because it doesn't "apply" to them is in the same warped state of mind as "those" LGBT that consistently vote GOP; you are voting against your own right.

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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.