Forty Under 40

Rachel Tiven • 36
New York City
Exec. Director, Immigration Equality

The Obama administration’s announcement more than a year ago that the antigay Defense of Marriage Act is indefensible raises many unresolved questions regarding immigration for same-sex couples. As executive director of Immigration Equality, Rachel Tiven has been on the front lines in pushing the White House for action on behalf of thousands of binational couples faced with deportation or denied marriage-based green card privileges that straight married couples are afforded. A growing number of gay couples have seen their cases dropped and their futures brightened with the help of the organization.

“The je ne sais quoi, the ‘it’ that makes us so magically unique as a nation, is that so many people from all over the world want to come here,” Tiven says. “Diminishing, denying, or disrespecting this wellspring of our collective creativity is a threat to who we are as a nation.”