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I wrote the other night about the Gutierrez immigration reform bill leaving out a major provision for LGBT bi-national couples to have the same access to sponsorship. Currently, if one member of an opposite-sex bi-national couple is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and the other is foreign-born, the U.S. citizen or permanent resident can sponsor the foreign-born individual for immigration benefits. Same-sex bi-national couples do not have this option. The Uniting American Families Act, sponsored by Rep. Nadler and Sen. Leahy, is a stand-alone bill towards this right. The Gutierrez immigration reform bill as introduced does not contain it, but Gutierrez and LGBT leaders in the House are hoping to add it in committee.
What was interesting to me is how much blowback, privately, that I've heard on this. Over e-mail to me with permission:
Going along to get along is not working anymore. Why should LGBT activists be there for immigration folks if they aren't there for us?
Big surprise. Just like ENDA in 2007, we are expected to press on while others are left behind. This bill is now worthless for LGBT people.
Over the phone today, I spoke to Rachel Tiven, the executive director of Immigration Equality, and found out that there are actually a number of provisions in the bill that are very strong for the LGBT community.
- Path to citizenship. Just like heterosexual individuals, there are LGBT individuals who are "out of status"- meaning they are here on a visa that has expired, or they entered without inspection over a border- who need a path to citizenship. I myself dated an Indonesian citizen who lived here for years on an H-1B visa and had employer sponsorship towards a green card, but nearly became out of status. The Gutierrez bill provides a pathway to staying in the country. This is especially important for LGBT people. Imagine being sent back to Uganda if you're gay, or Singapore, where consensual sexual relations between men is illegal.
- The DREAM Act, which is aimed at teenagers who are undocumented immigrants brought in the country as children and have grown up here, is included in the Gutierrez bill, and that affects LGBT teenagers, particularly those who have come out and would face discrimination if they were forced to return to their native country.
- Detainee provisions. According to Rachel, and as one might expect, LGBT people in immigration detention are especially vulnerable to harrassment by peers and by guards. Transgender detainees are especially vulnerable. The bill would improve on alternatives to detention and lessening unnecessary detention, as well as increase steps towards more humane conditions like protection from sexual abuse.
I asked Rachel about the lack of the UAFA provision, and she said:
Immigration Equality is continuing to push hard to make sure all families are included in comprehensive immigration reform. You can't call it comprehensive if it doesn't include everybody's family.
I think that's very true, and correcting the notion that this is comprehensive is a good way to get people's attention. Why the LGBT community should or should not "be there" for the immigration community, in my mind, seems to be the wrong question. LGBT people are immigrants. We have a long way to go on this bill before it is a final draft, and we need to keep pushing for the UAFA provision to be added, but it seems important to dispel the notion that a bill without it contains nothing for the LGBT community.
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