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U.S. immigration won't allow family unification for same-sex couples
U.S. immigration won't allow family unification for same-sex couples.
By Luis F. Perez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
As soon as Terrence Smith saw his partner step off a plane from England three years ago he knew he had found a soul mate.
It's a modern day love story, starting with an Internet hello. After
weeks of online chatting, they met in Atlanta. A long-distance
relationship ensued. Then Smith proposed.
If Smith had asked a woman to marry him, he would simply ask
immigration officials to grant his wife permanent residence here. It's
called family unification and it's the most common way for immigrants
to gain legal status in the country. But federal law prohibits same-sex
couples from that right.
So the 43-year-old Hollywood lawyer and Halil Akkor, 39, of London,
remain separated. So do 36,000 of other same-sex couples across the
country, according to Immigration Equality.
"U.S. immigration law intolerably discriminates against gay and lesbian
Americans by denying them the same rights received by heterosexual
couples," said U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D- Boca Raton, a co-sponsor of the Uniting America Families Act. "This is offensive and unacceptable."
Advocates say the act would grant immigration benefits to same-sex
couples so that they could stay together in this country. But the bill
has stalled in Congress.
Critics say granting immigration benefits to same-sex couples would be a step toward gay marriage.
"Americans basically support marriage between a man and a woman," said
the Rev. Louis Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, a
church lobbying group.
Up until 1990, homosexuality was grounds for not allowing people into
the United States, said Victoria Nielson, legal director of the New
York-based Immigration Equality, an immigration rights group that
advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive
individuals.
Current immigration law focuses on uniting families. But the 1996
Defense of Marriage Act prohibits the federal government from
recognizing same-sex relationships, Nielson said.
So many foreign-born partners of American citizens turn to renewing
temporary work or student visas, asking for asylum, difficult-to-get
employee-sponsored residency or staying illegally. Some leave the
country.
Durrell Watkins, senior pastor of Fort Lauderdale's Sunshine Cathedral
MCC, called immigration benefits for same-sex couples a "human rights
and civil rights" issue. He has witnessed the current law's effect on
couples. Watkins recalled a colleague who moved out of the country to
be with her partner and spent the last year of her life abroad.
"She had to die in Spain," he said.
Friends and family held a funeral in Canada in September so her
partner, who overstayed a visa and was deported from this country,
could attend.
In another instance, an ill congregation member spends six month
of the year alone without his Taiwanese partner, who's allowed into the
United States temporarily for the other half of the year.
"People should be able to spend their lives with the people that they love," Watkins said.
For Smith that may mean moving to London, leaving a well-established
law career and his home. However, he struggles most with the thought of
leaving his mother and father, both 83.
"My dad was diagnosed with stomach cancer," Smith said.
Still, the time may come when he'll leave his homeland.
"I have a country on the other side that is willing to embrace me with open arms," he said.
Luis F. Perez can be reached at lfperez@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4553.
Another reason they don't want to call it marriage...
