Homeland insecurity

New England's LGBT immigrants struggle to stay with spouses.

More and more same-sex couples are facing separation simply because one of them is an immigrant -- and the United States federal government doesn't recognize their marriage.

LGBT rights organization Freedom to Marry and Change.org recently joined forces to create a petition on behalf of a gay couple who wed in Connecticut and are now facing separation. Henry Velandia and Josh Vandiver tied the knot on Aug. 29, and are now struggling against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) -- the federal act that threatens to keep their new family apart. If Velandia and Vandiver were a heterosexual couple, their marriage would occasion the issuance of a green card -- permission to stay in the country -- to Vandiver, who was born in Venezuela and moved to the United States in 2002. The two men are considering leaving the country in order to remain together.

According to Immigration Equality, an advocacy organization for LGBT immigrants and their partners, thousands of desperate bi-national couples like Vandiver and Velandia are facing difficult decisions like these every day. DOMA prevents couples who are legally married in their home states from accessing citizenship for their spouses, and the United States does not allow its citizens to sponsor same-sex partners for immigration benefits (nineteen nations allow their citizens to do so).

Greg Gould and Aurelio Tin� are another gay couple facing separation by means of deportation, and were profiled in The Boston Globe on Oct. 16. The newlyweds -- who married in New Hampshire -- were struggling to gain residency for Tin�, a native of Venezuela who fled the country after experiencing anti-gay violence and discrimination. Gould told the Globe he planned to formally apply for legal residency for his husband, but fully expected to be rejected. The couple's lawyer, Lavi Soloway, said that rejection letters can serve as proof of discrimination. "The few people that have done this have done it for the specific purpose of holding the government accountable for its discrimination," Soloway told the Globe. "They're aware that one way to resolve this issue...is to sue in federal court. That's an option that's definitely open and will be considered."

Hope for these couples lies in DOMA repeal efforts, and in LGBT-friendly legislation. U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) on Sept. 30 introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010, a bill that includes the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which allows citizens to sponsor their same-sex partners.

"Now is the time to reform our nation's cruel and broken immigration system. Today, there are 12 million undocumented immigrants, including at least half a million LGBT people who are forced to live in the shadows of our society," said Rea Carey, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "The Uniting American Families Act is consistent with U.S. immigration law's existing policy of keeping families intact. These couples and their families have been kept separated or forced to live abroad. It's unconscionable to ask any American to choose between family and country."

Immigration Equality called the UAFA "a framework for comprehensive immigration reform." The legislation is sponsored in the Senate by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and in the House by Congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York.

"Today's inclusive framework is an historic step forward for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender binational families," Rachel B. Tiven, Executive Director of Immigration Equality, said Sept. 30. "Now, it is time to turn these principles into laws. We will fight to ensure that the Uniting American Families Act is an indelible part of the immigration reform bill.

"The LGBT community is committed to comprehensive immigration reform that includes everyone," Tiven said. "Our community understands, all too well, the pain of being punished and singled out for who we are. Our solidarity with the larger immigrant community is deep, and our resolve to fix our broken immigration system is real. We will work for a bill that provides a path to citizenship for the undocumented, including those who are LGBT. Time is of the essence for those facing separation or deportation, and Congress must act, urgently, to pass humane, comprehensive reform."

The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010 also includes the DREAM Act, which would give young people who came to the United States as children an opportunity to achieve citizenship through completing two years of college or spending two years in the military.

"Our nation's immigration policies must move away from hateful racial profiling laws such as Arizona's SB 1070 and toward the direction of fairness and social justice," Carey said on Sept. 30. "Today's introduction marks a first step toward fixing this broken immigration system, but much remains to be done. We thank Sen. Robert Menendez for introducing this legislation, and urge our federal lawmakers and the President to move forward in fairly and humanely reforming this failed system."

Little bipartisan support exists for UAFA, however; most of its sponsors are Democrats. Opponents say that it will be difficult to define the "permanent partnership" that's necessary for an LGBT American to sponsor their spouse or partner.

"MassEquality believes that government should be in the business of keeping families together and not tearing them apart. And that's what MassEquality has been about from its early days," MassEquality's Executive Director Kara Suffredini told Bay Windows. "We support efforts to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which would enable bi-national married same-sex couples to live together in the United States, and comprehensive immigration reform policy must include LGBT families."

The Senate's version of the Uniting American Families Act currently resides with the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, having been introduced and read twice, and the House's rests with the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law. Meanwhile, The Gay and Lesbian Times estimates 36,000 LGBT couples are struggling against politics, weighing their options, and in some cases, saying their goodbyes.