Congress to seek immigration rights for gay couples

June 7, 8:50 AMInternational LGBT Issues ExaminerKelvin Lynch

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I ran a story in April about Shirley Tan, the California woman who faced deportation to the Phillippines, which would have ripped her apart from her partner of 18 years and their two boys.  The couple was granted an 11th-hour delay when Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Jackie Speier pursuaded immigration officials to grant Tan a reprieve, and the deportation was ultimately blocked by special legislation.

The only reason Tan was to be deported is because she happens to be a lesbian.  Were she and her domestric partner a heterosexual couple, Tan would have not faced deportation at all, because her partner could sponsor her in the United States.

Cases like Tan's are not uncommon.  According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a survey by Immigration Equality in 2000 found that there were some 37,000 same-sex couples in the US where one partner was a foreign citizen.  The group was founded in 1994 to fight for equality under U.S. immigration law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and HIV-positive individuals.

Gay political commentator and former New Republic editor Andrew Sullivan, who now writes for The Atlantic, has been lamenting for years over how US immigration law prevents him from leaving the country..  Sullivan, who is originally from the United Kingdom, is unable to leave the US because there is a ban on HIV-positive immigrants.  If he left, he would not be allowed to return, even though he has lived and worked here for 20 years and has been married to a US citizen since 2007.  Sullivan is banned from becoming a US citizen himself because of his HIV status.  He came to America in the 1980's to earn a Ph.D. at Harvard. 

Congress is about to take up immigration issues like those affecting Tan and Sullivan.  Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA) introduced the Reuniting Families Act last Thursday, which would extend the same naturalization rights to permanent same-sex partners as those granted heterosexual spouses, allowing gay and lesbian Americans to sponsor their immigrant partners as legal US residents. 

Honda said,

"How do you define 'all families'? Traditional heterosexual families but also permanent partners, recognized as having a legitimate long-term relationship. It's a civil rights issue. The idea of being on the outside looking in is something we're familiar with, it's un-American. I want to make sure we do the right thing the first time."

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-MA) introduced a similar bill in the Senate called the United American Families Act.  Tan testitified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about her experience.  During Tan's testimony, Sen Jeff Sessions (R-AL), who opposes the bill, become annoyed when Tan's 12-year-old son cried and said, "enough with the histrionics."  The boy began crying when Tan was describing having to flee her country after being physically attacked by a man who had killed her mother and sister.

But both measures face criticism from religious groups.  Rev. Samual Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadershiop Conferences says his group doesn't support legislation, period. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops says it supports efforts to reunify immigrant families, but strongly opposes "efforts to erode the institution of marriage and family by according marriage-like immigration benefits to same-sex couples."

There is also secular criticism of the bills. The Center for Immigration Studies says Honda's bill encourages fraud because same-sex couples don't have marriage certificates to prove their relationships. 

However, Rachel Tiven, director of Immigration Equality said the bill includes documentation requirements proving long-standing relationships such as financial statements, mortgages, or wills.  Tiven also takes issue with the assertion that the addition of same-sex benefits will erode families.  On the contrary, she says, "There are millions of families that desperately need immigration reform.  Some are gay, most are not, and I hope that people who geniunely care about families and immigration reform will act to protect families that need help."

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