Schumer Signals UAFA Inclusion

I don't understand why many people like Stonewaller, aka same-sex marriage proponents think repealing DOMA is the ONLY way to go about achieving equality. Allowing bi-national same sex partners to immigrate legally is indeed one step towards an eventual equal rights, and can pave the road to marriage equality as well. On a more realistic front, two American citizens in a homosexual relationship can still remain together. A few states would even grant them the state benefits. On the other hand, having to live on two continents are very real for bi-national same-sex partners. Next time you think marriage equality is the be all, fix all solution, think if you are able to live without your loved ones for many years, ripped apart by our current immigration law. Then, maybe you will understand why UAFA is very important to some of us. Some of us are just wishing to be able to remain together, and is that too much to ask for a little support from our own community?

@ Stonewaller: U.S. immigration statutes have expressly prohibited the admission of “polygamists” into the United States since the enactment of the Immigration Act of 1891; In the 1927 case of Ng Suey Hi v. Weedin, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to recognize a valid Chinese polygamous marriage for U.S. immigration purposes.

I hope the Senator Schumer does include UAFA. People in same-sex bi-national relationships have suffered far too long already and should not be left out of this legislation. We need everyone to contact Senator Schumer and their own Senators and Representatives and let them know that UAFA needs to be included in CIR. The current system is nothing but pur discrimination based on sexual orientation. No one should have to chose between the person they love and their country.

I have been in a long term international relationship between Australia and the US for 4 years now. He was going to move to Australia with me however due to a health condition he does not meet requirements for Australian residency. So the only option for us to be together was for me to go to college in the US and study a carer that I was not even slightly interested in. After a year we decided to open a company in the US. We successfully applied for a treaty trader visa, however the business is not what I want to be doing with my life and I have spent over $65,000 in flights and legal fees also the US embassy is on the opposite side of Australia from where I live so each time I fly to the embassy I need to stay in a hotel. I am 26 years old and I have spent everything I have to be with my life partner. We cant even move to a different country to be together because of he's health condition. I could go on and on about this issue but I think this will give you an idea of what bi-national couples have to endure to be with their families.

There has never been a definition of marriage in the Constitution of the United States and there had never been a federal law defining marriage prior to the Defense of Marriage Act. The Supreme Court has consistently held that the definition of marriage is a matter for the states. Contrary to popular mythology and widespread misinformation, the case of Loving v Virginia did not change that fact. It is for this reason that I have always thought that DOMA was not only bad law but unconstitutional. The immigration service has historically recognized marriages that were legal in the states or countries where they were performed. However, nobody knows what the CIS would do should a polygamous foreigner want his marriage to be recognized. If one really wants equal rights and not special rights, the solution to the problem would be to persuade Congress to repeal DOMA and allow the immigration service to do as it has always done when it comes to recognizing marriages.

I would also like to add that I am in Japan on a work visa that must be re-newed every year. If my business fails ( and in the current world economy that is always possible) I could would be denied a renewal.

For 11 years I have been living in Japan with my same sex partner. Early on, a choice had to be made as to who would move away from their family. He has only his aging mother. I have a much larger family. It's a heart breaking choice. Loved ones are sick, family members die. You can't always be there with the cost of flying and the time it takes to get there. I first stayed here on a student visa. Then after studying the language, I opened my own business (on a shoe string I might add). My partner is fluent in english, highly educated and would most likely have good prospects for findng work in the US. We have always planned to return to America and this bill gives us hope that it will be possible some day.

We must continue to put the pressure on Senator Schumer and ALL of Congress to let them know that we MUST be included in any comprehensive immigration reform bill. Our families count too! Please - if you're reading this - call your members of Congress and tell them that comprehensive immigration reform is not comprehensive unless it includes all families - including LGBT families!

I am desperate to see this legislation passed, as I have been in a long-distance, international relationship for over a year and a half. My boyfriend was turned down the first time he applied for a US visa, because of the concern (he is from Mexico) that he was planning to work illegally. Check the US visa website; it is very clear that applicants from Mexico are guilty until proven innocent of the suspicion that they are planning to stay illegally. We are applying again for a visa this summer but that is still only the first step in us being together. And comments like those from David in MD are just ignorant. I realy wish more LGBT people were aware of this issue and did all that they could to get UAFA passed as part of immigration reform. It benefits us all and codifies our equality into federal law.

I’ve been together with my partner for almost 10 years, first on two student visas, now with a temporary working visa, but with no prospect of permanent residency. Because of my partner not being able to sponsor me for a Greencard, I had to choose a career that I don’t really enjoy but that (temporarily) provides me with a working visa (still, I am much luckier than many in a similar situation…). The ignorance and cruelty about this issue is really mindboggling. I often have to explain (sometimes even to LGBT folks!) that marrying in MA, for instance, would do nothing to my immigration status (in fact, it would hurt my future prospects). I know this is not an issue that affects most LGBT Americans – but for those of us who are affected by this, UAFA would be God-given (as somebody else wrote on here). Having said that: I don’t believe for a second that Democrats have the balls to actually fight for this. Gays & immigration, combined in one topic? Yeah, right… … guess who’s going to be thrown under the bus first when it comes to immigration reform. Where is HRC on this? What’s their strategy and where is their concerted effort to get LGBT included? Oh, that’s right, HRC is useless. How could I forget.