Out4Immigration Continues the Fight for Equality as Voice and Advocate for Same-Sex Binational Couples and HIV+ Immigrants
Group to Celebrate One-Year Anniversary at San Francisco Pride Parade on June 24
San Francisco, CA, June 21, 2007 --(PR.com)-- Out4Immigration (www.out4immigration.org), a grassroots organization that advocates to end discrimination in US immigration policy affecting GLBT American citizens and their foreign partners, as well as HIV+ immigrants, will celebrate its one-year anniversary, Sunday, June 24, by marching in the annual San Francisco Pride Parade. Everyone interested in supporting Out4Immigration is welcome to march with the group, who has been invited to walk with parade Grand Marshals Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis, plaintiffs in the same-sex marriage lawsuit before the California Supreme Court.
“Most Americans—including GLBT Americans—don’t know that gays and lesbians do not have the same immigration rights that heterosexuals can obtain through marriage,” said Michael Lim, Vice President of Out4Immigration. “If an American man falls in love with a woman from another country, they can get married and the foreign partner can obtain a green card as the spouse of the American. But because gay and lesbian marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships are not recognized by the US federal government, we cannot sponsor our partners in the same way. This policy has affected countless thousands of gay and lesbian couples in the US.”
In the past 12 months, Out4Immigration has witnessed the exodus of several of its members and supporters because the couples could no longer remain together legally in the US. Many have left to live in one of the 19 countries with immigration laws that recognize same-sex relationships:
• Out4Immigration board member Hanus Jelinek is currently planning to move to Buenos Aires to be with his partner after they could not secure a visa for Jelinek’s partner to live in the US.
• San Francisco couple Tim Sally and Bernd Vey, a German citizen, have received permission from the Canadian government to relocate to British Columbia, after Vey's H1B visa expires this month.
• Phyllis Christopher, an established photographer (http://www.phyllischristopher.com) and Helen Collard, a British subject, have moved to the UK after many years together in the US, when Helen’s visa ran out at the end of 2006.
• Chris Crain, a former editor with Washington Blade newspaper in Washington DC and author of the web blog Citizen Crain (http://citizencrain.typepad.com), has chosen to move to Rio de Janeiro to be with his Brazilian partner after two years of trying to maintain a long distance relationship.
In addition to the hard decisions and determination made by these American citizens and their partners to stay together after being denied any further options to remain in the US, GLBT immigrants who are HIV+ also struggle against discriminatory US immigration practices. Under current US law, only those who can show spouse or immediate family member support can enter or remain in the US.
“Again, the word ‘spouse’ can only be used by heterosexual couples, so GLBT immigrants who are HIV+ cannot use their relationship with a same-sex partner to be granted a waiver,” explained Lim. “This is particularly dangerous because these individuals often are afraid to seek medical care, or, if they are forced to leave the US, often return to a place where they cannot access the caliber of health care or medications they need and were receiving in the US, especially if they contracted the disease while living here.”
Since Out4Immigration’s inception last June, the group has done much to educate and raise awareness about the plight of same-sex binational couples and HIV+ immigrants—both living in and exiled from the US. The group’s members continually advocate for the passage of a bill called the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA, H.R. 2221; S. 1328) recently reintroduced in Congress. The UAFA would add the words “or permanent partner” to current US immigration law everywhere the word “spouse” appears. This simple solution would effectively end the injustice suffered by more than 36,000 same-sex binational couples and countless HIV+ immigrants reportedly living in the US today.
Out4Immigration’s all-volunteer board and members choose to raise awareness through a variety of grassroots tactics such as marching in Pride parades around the country and partnering with other immigrant groups at May Day and Labor Day rallies. The group wears distinctive black t-shirts with pink broken hearts and the words “United by Love, Divided by Law” emblazoned on them. Group members pass out pertinent literature, give media interviews and hold community forums and educational events.
Out4Immigration will also be a co-presenter of Sebastian Cordoba’s film about same-sex binational couples, “Through Thick and Thin” showing at Frameline’s San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival (http://www.frameline.org/festival/calendar/index.aspx?FID=38) on June 20 and June 21. For more information about marching with Out4Immigration at the San Francisco Pride Parade or the Frameline screening of “Through Thick and Thin” visit Out4Immigration’s website at www.out4immigration.org or contact Amos Lim at amos@out4immigration.org.
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Out4Immigration addresses the widespread discriminatory impact of US immigration laws on the lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and HIV+ people and their families through education, outreach, advocacy and the maintenance of a resource and support network. For more information, visit www.out4immigration.org. To schedule interviews with same-sex binational couples who are available to speak with the media on this issue, including Spanish-speaking couples, please contact Amos Lim, amos@out4immigration.org at 415-375-3765.
“Most Americans—including GLBT Americans—don’t know that gays and lesbians do not have the same immigration rights that heterosexuals can obtain through marriage,” said Michael Lim, Vice President of Out4Immigration. “If an American man falls in love with a woman from another country, they can get married and the foreign partner can obtain a green card as the spouse of the American. But because gay and lesbian marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships are not recognized by the US federal government, we cannot sponsor our partners in the same way. This policy has affected countless thousands of gay and lesbian couples in the US.”
In the past 12 months, Out4Immigration has witnessed the exodus of several of its members and supporters because the couples could no longer remain together legally in the US. Many have left to live in one of the 19 countries with immigration laws that recognize same-sex relationships:
• Out4Immigration board member Hanus Jelinek is currently planning to move to Buenos Aires to be with his partner after they could not secure a visa for Jelinek’s partner to live in the US.
• San Francisco couple Tim Sally and Bernd Vey, a German citizen, have received permission from the Canadian government to relocate to British Columbia, after Vey's H1B visa expires this month.
• Phyllis Christopher, an established photographer (http://www.phyllischristopher.com) and Helen Collard, a British subject, have moved to the UK after many years together in the US, when Helen’s visa ran out at the end of 2006.
• Chris Crain, a former editor with Washington Blade newspaper in Washington DC and author of the web blog Citizen Crain (http://citizencrain.typepad.com), has chosen to move to Rio de Janeiro to be with his Brazilian partner after two years of trying to maintain a long distance relationship.
In addition to the hard decisions and determination made by these American citizens and their partners to stay together after being denied any further options to remain in the US, GLBT immigrants who are HIV+ also struggle against discriminatory US immigration practices. Under current US law, only those who can show spouse or immediate family member support can enter or remain in the US.
“Again, the word ‘spouse’ can only be used by heterosexual couples, so GLBT immigrants who are HIV+ cannot use their relationship with a same-sex partner to be granted a waiver,” explained Lim. “This is particularly dangerous because these individuals often are afraid to seek medical care, or, if they are forced to leave the US, often return to a place where they cannot access the caliber of health care or medications they need and were receiving in the US, especially if they contracted the disease while living here.”
Since Out4Immigration’s inception last June, the group has done much to educate and raise awareness about the plight of same-sex binational couples and HIV+ immigrants—both living in and exiled from the US. The group’s members continually advocate for the passage of a bill called the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA, H.R. 2221; S. 1328) recently reintroduced in Congress. The UAFA would add the words “or permanent partner” to current US immigration law everywhere the word “spouse” appears. This simple solution would effectively end the injustice suffered by more than 36,000 same-sex binational couples and countless HIV+ immigrants reportedly living in the US today.
Out4Immigration’s all-volunteer board and members choose to raise awareness through a variety of grassroots tactics such as marching in Pride parades around the country and partnering with other immigrant groups at May Day and Labor Day rallies. The group wears distinctive black t-shirts with pink broken hearts and the words “United by Love, Divided by Law” emblazoned on them. Group members pass out pertinent literature, give media interviews and hold community forums and educational events.
Out4Immigration will also be a co-presenter of Sebastian Cordoba’s film about same-sex binational couples, “Through Thick and Thin” showing at Frameline’s San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival (http://www.frameline.org/festival/calendar/index.aspx?FID=38) on June 20 and June 21. For more information about marching with Out4Immigration at the San Francisco Pride Parade or the Frameline screening of “Through Thick and Thin” visit Out4Immigration’s website at www.out4immigration.org or contact Amos Lim at amos@out4immigration.org.
###
Out4Immigration addresses the widespread discriminatory impact of US immigration laws on the lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and HIV+ people and their families through education, outreach, advocacy and the maintenance of a resource and support network. For more information, visit www.out4immigration.org. To schedule interviews with same-sex binational couples who are available to speak with the media on this issue, including Spanish-speaking couples, please contact Amos Lim, amos@out4immigration.org at 415-375-3765.
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Out4Immigration
K.T. Drasky
415-606-2085
out4immigration.org
K.T. Drasky
415-606-2085
out4immigration.org
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