Dear Friend and Reader,
Today is a big day for civil rights: not only is it Abe Lincoln’s 200th birthday and the NAACP’s centennial anniversary, but it’s also LGBT strategy week:В the chess board is out and our pawns are advancing.
This week, leading up to Valentine’s Day, is the 12th annual Freedom to Marry Week, where supporters of marriage equality can participate in nation-wide events. This morning,В same-sex couples went to city councils to apply for marriage licenses in states that don’t permit same-sex marriage. Tensions were particularly high in California because of Prop 8, but also in New York State, where Gov. Paterson has issued a directive to recognize same-sex marriages from other states, without making any moves towards actually legalizing it in New York.
On Feb. 6, VermontВ Representatives Mark Larson and David Zuckerman introduced a bill for same-sex marriage to the state legislature. While lawmakers are expecting “tripartisan support” of the bill, the House Speaker, Shap Smith, questions whether the bill will pass this year.
In national news, the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) was introduced to the House of Representatives today by Congressman Jarrold Nadler and 52 co-sponsors. UAFA would change American immigration law to include “permanent partners” in addition to heterosexual spouses. Currently, there are over 40,000 binational same-sex couples in the US who are struggling to remain in the country through student visas and a dwindling number of work permits (and employment opportunities) available.
Thousands more have exiled, leaving the US for countries that are more welcoming to same-sex couples.В I’m soon to be one of them: my Irish partner has been unable to move to the US for the last three years, and we’re both going to leave our home countries for one that recognizes our relationship. If UAFA passed, my life, for one, would change significantly for the better. To read more about UAFA, or to call your congressperson, click here and here.
Yours & truly,
Rachel Asher
hear, hear.
Rachel~Sorry for the hardship you and your partner have had to endure because immigration is so screwed. I am married to a European and went through a bit of a hassle moving that way, but we had to endure a lot of crap moving back to the US. Several of the forums I visited for info and support had same-sex couples trying to find some way to stay together here. No matter what hardships I had to endure (monetary, bureaucracy, inefficiency, separations) at least I wasn’t being judged unfairly and discriminated against. I can only imagine the frustration and pain you two have had to deal with; it grieves me that our world still tries to legislate love. I hope this changes soon…we need as many expressions of love as we can get.