WaPo: Grant Gay
Immigrant Couples Equal Rights

Congress should pass an act to allow gay and lesbian citizens the same right to sponsor committed same-sex partners for U.S. citizenship that heterosexual citizens already enjoy as a benefit of federal marriage, TheWashington Postsaid Monday in an editorial.

The proposed bill by Vermont senator Patrick Leahy and New York representative Jerrold Nadler would afford binational gay and lesbian couples the same rights that heterosexual couples have when they marry their foreign-born spouse, giving the spouse a family-based sponsorship into the country.

Currently 16 countries, including Canada and South Africa, allow residents to sponsor same-sex partners to become citizens. While some gay couples can be married in Connecticut and Massachusetts, as well as a handful of foreign countries, the U.S. government, which regulates immigration, does not recognize state-granted same-sex marriages, domestic partnerships, or civil unions.

"The strain of the status quo on gay and lesbian binational couples should not be discounted," the Post wrote. "Because their relationships are not legally recognized by the United States, some couples have resorted to illegal marriages where the foreign nationals marry Americans to get green cards that allow them to stay in the country permanently."