Every day I learn about a new love story where a couple has gone to extraordinary lengths to be or remain together.

As time moves on the world is getting smaller. It is fairly economical to travel to new places with competing travel bargains that can be found on the internet. Meeting people in your own neighbourhood is now a thing of the past, thanks to the internet and social networking tools it is easy to meet those from different countries and cultures. While at the political level between countries there all kinds of stuff going on such as diplomatic relations, trade negotiations, wars, and so on, at the “regular citizen” level we are understanding from the relationships we make with other cultures that people are basically the same every where; they shop, have families, try to make a living, worried about finances, eat, worry about health and of course fall in love. Love is the strongest thing that binds two people together.

When falling in love it would seem the most cruel and malicious thing to do to keep those two apart from each other. The world is full of constant turmoil that seems never ending however when you are with the person you love all can seem much brighter with the world.

There is a group of people who are forced to be apart by the cruelest of discrimination and that is lack of legislation in immigration law. How would you feel being apart from your loved one due to politicians hate towards your culture? A change of law would not effect any other people’s lives, except for those who are bought together to like any other family, with exception to the diversity, money and experience they bring to the country.

We’ve seen it all before, how politicians have discriminated against people of colour, women, whites marrying blacks, Asians, rich and poor and of course, the group I refer to in this post, gay people.

Many countries already respectfully treat gay people in all parts of the law and have equal rights across the board including immigration, however, that is not the case for one of the world’s largest super powers, the United States of America.

What next for gay people to be treated equally like other families who are tax payers? 2011 bought some minor progress with Don’t Ask Don’t Tell being lifted, however it’s a long way to what they have to achieve. 2012? Hopefully there will be something more positive to report. In the meantime, this Christmas, couples continue to endure the agony of separation.

I was so incensed and upset by a story of how the Obama administration wants to separate a family yesterday it was difficult for me to articulate myself properly as a result.  My reaction was that of being stunned, dismayed, and outraged.

Why does Obama want to separate a happily married couple?

Imagine this:

• Couple have been in a loving relationship for 19 years
• They got married 7 years ago
• They are worthwhile members of the community, pay their taxes like everyone else, have their own business and employ people
• They haven’t broken the law
• One half of the couple has a challenging illness
• The other half of the couple is a major caregiver

There is no valid reason from the points above that justify separating this couple.  So why is this happening?  Simply because they are a gay.  I ask myself what kind of barbaric Government does this to a couple?  It is clear discrimination.  Immigration is a federal law of which gay people are denied 1,300+ benefits right now.

Read the story of Bradford and Anthony here.  The couple were also interview by KTVU in San Francisco.

In its simplest terms the couple applied for an I-130 visa to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, they were denied based on the law set out in the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).  As a result of being denied the Australian has been asked to leave the country by 25th August.  In line with couples who have had their deportations put on hold this couple should also have some kind of repreive until Congress repeals DOMA.  It is totally inhumane to separate this couple and Obama needs to intervene to resolve this issue quickly.

Take action by signing the Immigration Equality petition right now.

To coincide with LGBT Pride Month in the US President Obama has launched a microsite which, basically, is his manifesto on this subject.  The manifesto is detailed in a PDF file, titled “Winning the Future for LGBT American’s“, and the plight of binational couples is mentioned as follows “and that Americans with partners from other countries should not be faced with a painful choice between staying with their partner or staying in their country”.

My initial thoughts on this, like everyone else, is YAY!!  At last he recognizes that we exist and he is willing to put his weight behind making change…or at least his advisers are telling him to do this.

Then, I think about it a bit more and come to the conclusion that Obama is really really good with words but when it comes to action…well, this is where he falls short.  Really this microsite could have been created in his first year of office, to coincide with LGBT Pride Month 2009.  Most of the issues now were the same two years ago and he could have summarized his commitment back then, or even before that to coincide with his Presidential campaign.

Why now? The first thing that comes into my head is the US election of 2012.  Has he put these items up so he can get the LGBT vote?  I am very synical about politics and I am thinking this is more than likely to be the case.  Will he push for these changes to have been made before the election?  I seriously doubt it but would like to be proved wrong.  I am thinking as soon as he is re-elected in 2012 he will take this site down.  I also see that Obama has been struggling with what he believes in regarding LGBT issues, his struggle with accepting (or not) the possibility of gay marriage.  The best politicians are those who can over-ride their prejudices and do the right thing to progress society, I see him struggling.

I don’t pay taxes for Government to churn out words, I pay them to achieve results.  Democrats Abroad recently phoned asking for a donation, we said “no way”, not until this administration produces the results that we want which is to pass same sex immigration.  I am fed up of committing our time and money to them when they are showing no commitment back – which is to pass the Uniting American Families Act.  We’ve been waiting 15 years for this, how much longer?  Pass this legislation now, not tomorrow!

Now for one of my irregular updates/opinion pieces on same sex immigration issues in the United States.  I have been prompted to write this because it has been another milestone week, regarding deportation progress.

There are two major areas that need to be fixed within the US around same sex immigration.  Firstly, to pass legislation, the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), so that an American citizen can sponsor their foreign born partner to live with in the States.  Secondly, for those who are already in the States to ensure the foreign partner is not deported until a decision is made on repealing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) or the UAFA is passed but includes an amnesty for those who might have overstayed.

I believe this is a political issue.  This is not of great concern to the members of public.  Lawyers want this as a common sense route for their clients to be able to stay in the country rather than try and figure out different ways for them to stay, not easy when the US immigration system is so confusing and in such a mess, and any alternatives are time limited (ie work, student visa etc).  I really would like to believe the US Immigration Service want this too, they will just enforce whatever law is laid out in front of them, staff want benefits for their partners and to be treated equally within and outside the organization.  The big hurdle I think is for politicians for the following reasons:

• Having difficulty with a cultural change in the US
• How this looks in their re-election campaign, upsetting a minority of supporters that might object to anything gay
• Generally too dumb to understand the issues
• They have prejudices they are struggling with themselves
• They can’t figure out a solution to these issues

There does appear to be a lot of confused messages from the Obama administration on these issues.  First they advise USCIS to put all binational immigration deportations/applications on hold until DOMA is repealed, but then they change their mind.  We heard from them suggesting they are not able to issue an executive order or halt deportations, yet the Attorney General seems to have partly contradicted himself by putting on hold a deportation on Thursday 5th May until questions are answered revolving around civil unions and allowing the foreign partner to stay.  Seeing this as a precedent this affected the case of Josh and Henry today, Friday 6th May, whose case has been adjourned until December.

However, I do ask myself, what will be in place by December to allow Henry to remain in the United States?  There is some doubt the UAFA will be in place because of the conservative majority in the House of Representatives.  So, will DOMA be repealed by then?  If so, will it be in place by then?  If it isn’t repealed what will happen to Henry?  Even if Obama had a good strategy for immigration reform this would not be resolved by year end.  Its worth noting that deportation means not being able to return to the country for 10 years.  Its quite clear those who are facing deportation need the time for other legislation to be reviewed (ie DOMA, immigration reform etc) before their cases are heard by courts again, its a waste of tax payers money to keep sending these people to court, so the Obama administration should halt all deportation hearings until a common sense alternative is in place.  Rather than stringing this out forever this needs to be addressed quickly.

While politicians stall on this couples like Josh and Henry have their lives on hold not knowing what the future might bring, with someone else pulling the strings on their lives.  I want Politicians to enhance our lives, to give us the resources to be successful citizens, to allow everyone an equal return on our tax dollars.

Resources:

• Immigration Equality
• Get Equal
• Stop The Deportations