Out In The Mountains : News - Leahy Reintroduces Gay Partners Immigration Act

by Paul Olsen

      The immigration of international partners of gay and lesbian Americans will be eased if legislation recently reintroduced in the United States Senate by Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) becomes law.
      That's good news for Tom, a teacher in Burlington, who would consider having his Canadian partner of seven years immigrate to the United States. "It would be nice to have the option," Tom told OITM. "It's about time especially now that democracies like Canada, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands have recognized that [marriage] rights and freedoms should be extended to gay people. When is the United States going to wake up?"
       By adding "permanent partner" to the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, the Uniting American Families Act (S.1278) would treat same-sex domestic partners the same as heterosexual spouses for purposes of immigration rights and benefits.
       Tom sees passage of Leahy’s bill as an important step in the struggle for gay equality especially since Canadian law would recognize his relationship for immigration purposes. "The way that the laws are implemented now - that would block immigration of my partner to the United States, whereas moving to Canada is an option - has caused us a great deal of concern and disappointment toward the policies of the US government," Tom said. "It is something that should happen in spite of the rhetoric about defending marriage."
       Leahy said he introduced the Uniting American Families Act to help gay and lesbian families. "I have heard from gay and lesbian Americans throughout the United States about the unfairness of our immigration laws in the effect those laws have had on their loved ones," he said in an email to OITM. "They simply want their loved ones to have the same opportunities under our family immigration system as the loved ones of other Americans."
       A draft of the Uniting American Families Act, formerly known as the Permanent Partners Immigration Act, says it is designed to "provide a mechanism for United States citizens and lawful permanent residents to sponsor their permanent partners for residence in the United States, and for other purposes."
      The bill defines permanent partner as an individual who is 18 years or older, unmarried, and in a financially interdependent, committed, lifelong intimate relationship with another individual 18 years or older.
      In addition to Leahy, the bill is cosponsored by a number of New England senators including Lincoln Chafee (RI), Edward Kennedy (MA), and James Jeffords (VT). A version of the bill introduced in the US House of Representatives has 57 cosponsors including Barney Frank (MA), Michael Michaud (ME), Bernard Sanders (VT), and Rob Simmons (CT).
      Representatives of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), a San Francisco-based gay advocacy group, praised Leahy's reintroduction of the Uniting American Families Act.
      "Over the last 28 years, NCLR has seen countless families separated by immigration laws that cruelly exclude same-sex couples from any recognition or protection, no matter how committed their relationship or how long a couple has been together," said Lena Ayoub, NCLR’s Staff Attorney. "The Uniting American Families Act allows bi-national couples to remain together without fear of separation or deportation."
      The Washington DC-based Human Rights Campaign (HRC) also supports the bill. According to the HRC, fifteen countries - including Canada, Denmark, Israel, South Africa, France, and the United Kingdom - recognize same-sex couples when it comes to immigration policy.
      At this point, Leahy is not optimistic the United States will become the sixteenth country to recognize gay partners. "Unfortunately, few Republicans have supported our legislation so far. Since Republicans are in the majority in the House and Senate, it will be difficult to pass this bill until enough Republican Members of Congress come to understand the unfairness of our current system."

Paul Olsen lives and works in Colchester and also writes for the Boston-based gay paper In Newsweekly.