August 4, 2008
Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) Gets 100th House Co-Sponsor
By Kathy Drasky, Out4Immigration
WASHINGTON, DC — August 4, 2008 — Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) became the 100th Congressional co-sponsor of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA, H.R. 2221) on August 1, 2008.
The UAFA is a bill before Congress that would make a small change to existing immigration law to close a loophole barring gay and lesbian Americans in committed relationships with foreign partners from sponsoring their partner for a green card. These same-sex binational couples are denied the right that opposite-sex couples have been afforded for decades — the right to legally keep their families together in the United States.
“We need the UAFA to become law because the United States does not recognize same-sex relationships at the federal level,” explained Michael Lim, Vice President of the national grassroots organization Out4Imigration. “Gay and lesbian couples are denied the protections of more than 1,100 federal laws that come with a federally recognized marriage – one of the most critical of these being immigration rights.”
According to a Human Rights Watch report, there are more than 36,000 committed same-sex binational couples in the United States who would benefit from passage of the UAFA. Many more have been forced to live in exile — to leave behind their extended family, friends, community, homes and careers — in order to be with the person they love in one of the 18 countries that recognize same-sex couples for immigration purposes. Others, not having a safe alternative country to go to, have been forced to make heart-wrenching choices.
“No one should have to choose between their partner and their country,” said Lim. “But without legislation like the UAFA in place, that’s exactly what’s happening to gays and lesbians in the United States.
“Out4Immigration is encouraged that we now have 100 co-sponsors of this legislation in the House and 14 for the bill in the Senate (S. 1328), but there is a lot more work ahead if these bills are going to come up for a floor vote. To those lawmakers sitting on the fence with this legislation, we ask them: If you were forced to choose between your country and the person you love, what would you do?”
The UAFA was re-introduced in the House and the Senate by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in May 2007. It has been proposed in Congress in every term since 1999 (formerly as the Permanent Partners Immigration Act). If it fails to pass before the end of this Congressional term, it will have to be reintroduced again in 2009.
The legislation would add three words to existing US immigration law, “or permanent partner,” wherever the word “spouse” appears. This would close the loophole imposed by the federal government that does not allow gays and lesbians to use the word “spouse” to define their relationship.
© Amos Lim. All Rights Reserved.
Filed under: Immigration, United States
