Register | Login

Search results for press

With the nation's attention still focused on health care, it may seem like comprehensive immigration reform has been swept under the rug. Don't worry--it may be quiet right now, but CIR is not dead. This past week members of Congress have shown us that immigration reform legislation is still on the agenda.

The legal center report said repealing DOMA is “an obvious and necessary step to ending federal discrimination against gay and lesbian couples.”

Entitled “A Devastating Wait: Family Unity and the Immigration Backlogs,” the report includes a long laundry list of recommendations for immigration legislation, including reclassifying spouses and minor children of legal permanent residents as immediate relatives, exempting Filipino World War II veterans from annual quotas and placing a permanent three-year cap on wait times for family-sponsored visas – which woul
NAACP BOARD CHAIRMAN LEADS GROUP OF RECENT, HIGH-PROFILE ENDORSEMENTS FOR THE NATIONAL EQUALITY MARCH Diverse Ranks Continue to Deepen as “Equality Across America” Expands Los Angeles, CA, August 18 – Broad-based support for the National Equality March (NEM) has been growing exponentially across the country over the past few weeks, according to its organizer Equality Across America (EAA). Thousands of Americans are hearing the drumbeat for LGBT equality and plan to follow it to the nation’s capital this October. Thousands of individuals representing dozens of organizations from across the country have gone to the organization’s website to sign up.

US Representative, Danny K. Davis, of Chicago, Illinois; Michael Letwin, Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW); and NAACP Board Chairman, Julian Bond, have all recently voiced their support for the NEM. “GLBT r
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey hand-delivered a binder containing messages from nearly 700 supporters of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights to President Obama at the White House's Pride Month reception on June 29.

Late last week, the Task Force solicited the feedback from community members, asking: "What would you say to the president if you had the opportunity?" Many of the responses presented by Carey to the president spotlighted people's stories of discrimination and hopes for equality. Marriage equality, family recognition, nondiscrimination protections, immigration, health care reform, hate crimes and abolishing the military ban were common themes; while the topics were over-arching, the stories were unique and personal.
Monday’s Stonewall action builds upon this momentum, as well as on the June 28 Pride March in Manhattan, which honored the Stonewall rebellion, and on the increasing national attention on ENDA, DOMA, DADT, Hate Crimes and the United American Families Act (UAFA), which provides immigration equality for bi-national same-sex couples.

“Even if each of the pieces of legislation passes, they don’t represent the entirety of what it means to be a full citizen with full civil rights,” said The Power’s Campagna, who is also a fundraiser for Democratic candidates and was on Obama’s LGBT Steering Committee.
In advance of President Obama’s 5:45 remarks on extending limited benefits to gay federal workers, Director of Personnel Management John Berry spoke to the press and said….very little.

He seemed to be reading from a brief, prepared statement that recapped what we already know: OPM investigated which benefits could be extended to same-sex partners of federal employees that were not circumscribed by DOMA and it found two.
A Press conference in D.C. on Thursday was attended by Shirley Tan and her family when Mike Honda introduced the Reuniting Families Act. This legislation would, inter alia, extend to “permanent partners” the same naturalization rights accorded to spouses under the bill, allowing gay and lesbian Americans to seek legal residency for their immigrant same-sex partners. Although designed as comprehensive reform, it would include the LBGT community. This would then in effect amount to a merger (if you will) or an absorption, more appro pro of the Uniting American Families Act. I still have to be convinced that from the LGBT standpoint we have not sold ourselves short, due in part to the greater political debate and invalidation of our families by certain groups. If that is the case though I hope UAFA will continue to stand on its own. I can do not better for now than to refer you to this
EQCA and Assemblymember Brownley Call for Repeal of DOMACommon Dreams (press release), MEAs a result, same-sex married couples are refused the same rights and responsibilities as their opposite-sex counterparts, resulting in inequitable and unfair implementation of federal laws governing a range of issues including housing, immigration, ...
5 years later, gay marriage accepted in Mass.The Associated PressAfter Michael and Rick McManus of Charlton married in 2006, they honeymooned in Panama, and on return to the United States were told at the immigration booth that they had to go through separately because US law didn't consider them married. ...
Writer Susan Young takes the case for the Uniting American Families Act to the American people, in the current issue of People magazine. A Gay Mom Faces Deportation. The story of Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado that you've been following on ...
Out4Immigration Says State Law Still Excludes Gay Couples from 1,138 Federal Marriage Rights, including Immigration

MONTPELIER, VT — April 7, 2008 — The Vermont Legislature voted today to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry. The veto override will allow same-sex couples to marry and enjoy all the state benefits afforded to opposite-sex couples.

Vermont’s governor had argued that the state already had sufficient civil union laws on the books that gave gays and lesbians the same rights as married couples. State lawmakers and their constituents, however, felt that barring gays and lesbians from marriage and limiting them to civil unions was “separate but equal” treatment and not sufficient in maintaining equal rights for all Vermonters.

Vermont now becomes the fourth state to offer full state marriage benefits
The city and county of San Francisco has passed a resolution supporting the passage of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) by Congress. The UAFA would eliminate the barrier that same-sex binational couples now face when a gay or lesbian American tries to sponsor their foreign life partner for a green card and the right to stay together legally in the US. Opposite-sex binational couples have long been afforded such protections under US immigration law.

Amos Lim, a founding board member of Out4Immigration and a San Francisco resident was instrumental in getting this resolution passed, first by the Board of Supervisors and then by the Immigrant Rights Commission. The resolution makes San Francisco the first municipality to call for equal immigration rights for gays and lesbians at the federal level. It is only change at the federal level for any LGBT rights -- including m
Amos Lim and Kathy Drasky from Out4Immigration will contribute to the blog, LGBT Immigration Rights, as will Martha McDevitt-Pugh of Love Exiles and Chris Waddling, the binational couple outreach director for Marriage Equality USA. ...
Boston GlobeKerry seeks asylum for gay man married in Mass.The Associated PressThe 2000 census found at least 36000 gay and lesbian couples in the United States in which one partner was a citizen and one was an immigrant, said Rachel Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, which advocates for gay and lesbian immigrants ...Kerry Asks Attorney General to Reunite Gay Couple Lez Get RealSenator Kerry Wants Asylum For Married Gay Man On Top Magazineall 274 news articles
Numerous appeals are being made to the couples' Congressperson Jackie Speier and Senator Dianne Feinstein.

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.