‘America is Forcing Me to Choose between Love & Country’

by Bambi Weavil

There are a lot of stories out there that I call ‘sexy activism’ stories that get a lot of attention and media coverage such as DADT and the fight for gay marriage, but there are plenty of issues in the gay community that don’t get the proper attention from the media and public that they deserve, that are equally valid and deserving. One of them came across my e-mail box in a headline that said it all for me: “America is forcing me to choose to choose between love and country.”

Meet Gina from Sacramento, California, who has been involved in a bi-national relationship for four years. Gina’s partner is from the United Kingdom, and had to leave the country because Gina could not sponsor her to remain in the U. S because they are a same-sex couple. “I am separated for great lengths of time from the love of my life, from my support system, from the person I intend to spend the rest of my life with,” Gina said. Currently, Americans in same-sex relationships with foreign partners have no right to sponsor those partners for legal residency in the U. S. Currently Gina and her partner spend as much time as they can in short bursts of time until things change just so they can be together like any other relationship.

“People are having to leave the country…because they can’t be with their partner. I am facing that right now, and I will have to give up my job, my apartment, everything I own, say goodbye to my family, because I can’t have my partner here,” Gina said, holding back tears. (Read more at OutImpact.com: http://www.outimpact.com/features/news-features/immigration-equality-gay-community-america-forcing-choose-love-country/#ixzz1D1eEKMhu)

This story originally appeared in OutImpact.com.