For a variety of reasons, I didn't have a chance to go down to the immigration march yesterday, but I've caught up with all the coverage, and was happy to hear that not only did it go well, but there was a good-sized LGBT contingent:
h/t to Joe Sudbay for the video
Of course, the contingent doesn't tell the whole story on how immigration reform would affect LGBT people, which brings me to a point I want to discuss today. Back in December (buried around the Christmas holiday), I wrote two few pieces (here and here) discussing how immigration reform, with or without the Uniting American Families Act (an LGBT-specific piece of legislation that would extend immigration benefits to same-sex partners in bi-national relationships) would significantly affect LGBT individuals. There has been a vigorous debate over the lack of inclusion of UAFA in the legislation that's been introduced or is set to be introduced, and whether immigration reform without UAFA is still "an LGBT issue". Andrew Belonsky has a thoughtful summary of this debate at a conference I attended a few weeks ago. The answer, to me, is overwhelmingly yes, but as I've observed this debate, I've noticed there may be two different communities here.
One of the communities is made up of undocumented immigrants themselves. As Kerry Eleveld over at The Advocate magazine wrote, out of an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living here, an estimated 600,000 undocumented immigrants are LGBT. The other community, to me, is made up of LGBT-focused activists who also (with the disclaimer that I'm talking about friends and colleagues I've met in recent months) tend to be US citizens or permanent residents. Many of those I talk to in this community tell me immigration reform without UAFA inclusion isn't really, then, "an LGBT issue", and therefore not worthy of expenditure of resources to pass it by LGBT-focused activists.
What I wonder about that is whether the estimated 600,000 LGBT undocumented immigrants think that immigration reform without UAFA is "an LGBT issue" or not. And I don't just say that because 600,000 undocumented immigrants are LGBT, since anyone affected by nearly any issue may "happen" to be a member of a certain community. I say that because on some aspects of immigration reform, there is a disproportionate impact on LGBT people. For undocumented immigrants who are LGBT, I'm not sure UAFA is as high on the priority list of provisions they want to see in immigration reform as, say, basic human rights. Undocumented immigrants who are LGBT and from countries like Uganda, Jamaica and Iran are at risk of deportation back to those countries, where they would be at risk of violence, imprisonment and death. They would benefit from a path to legalization, which is likely to be included in immigration reform.
There's also asylum issues- others come here to seek asylum on those grounds but don't take advantage, something Sen. Leahy and Immigration Equality, the lead organization focusing on LGBT immigration issues, are starting to address:
Washington, DC - The Immigration Equality Action Fund praised new legislation, introduced Monday by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), which would provide new protections for asylum seekers and refugees.
"We have always believed that LGBT asylum seekers are disproportionately affected by the one year filing deadline for asylum applications, because so many of them simply don't know that the persecution they faced as sexual minorities could be grounds for asylum here," said Rachel B. Tiven, the group's executive director. "Eliminating this unfair deadline will help many LGBT and HIV-positive victims of persecution obtain safe haven in the United States."
There's also detention- other LGBT immigrants are placed in detention and especially at risk of sexual violence and severe mistreatment (check out the story of Esmeralda, who is transgender, in the video below):
Esmeralda: A Transgender Detainee Speaks Out from Breakthrough on Vimeo.
In the Gutierrez bill that's been introduced in the House, there are provisions that would both provide a path to legalization as well as improve detainee conditions. The Schumer/Graham bill may also track along those lines, and I'm told that the asylum issue has a good chance of inclusion because of Leahy's support, in his role as chairman of Judiciary. Just like HIV/AIDS and hate crimes laws, these issues are LGBT issues because they have a disproportionate impact on LGBT people. For undocumented immigrants who are LGBT, perhaps they aren't marching as LGBT activists- perhaps they are marching as immigrants who happen to be LGBT. Doesn't make a difference to me- they are as worthy of attention on those grounds because of the risks faced by undocumented LGBT immigrants. And because of that, perhaps just basic human rights- rather than a focus whether or not there is an LGBT-specific provision included in the bill- should be the priority here in terms of what LGBT-focused activists define as "an LGBT issue".
This is not to say that it is critical to include UAFA in the bill, and we all have to keep fighting to get it in. But it is to say that sometimes it's important to change the lens on what we view as discrimination and what's worth fighting for.
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