Out4Immigration Volunteer Visits Washington, DC

by Erik Schnabel

I have been involved in Out4Immigration as a volunteer grassroots organizer for much of the last year. My motivation is to help change the current situation that my partner and I find ourselves in because of the unfair immigration system that currently exists. If we were in a heterosexual relationship our immigration issues would be easily solved by getting married and having our relationship federally recognized. But because our immigration system is broken, we remain "legal strangers" in the eyes of the US government. I volunteer with Out4Immigration to see if we can pass the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), either as a stand alone bill or as part of the current efforts to pass a comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) bill. This legislation would give me and my partner the same rights as an opposite-sex binational couple.

Several months ago, I heard about local efforts in San Francisco to bring together a coalition of immigrant rights groups to work for CIR. I began to attend meetings of the San Francisco Bay Area for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (SFBCIR), a group of immigrant rights advocates representing many diverse communities. While the organizations that made up the coalition were very supportive and open to Out4Immigration being involved, many were not aware of the issues of LGBT immigrants and same-sex binational couples. After several weeks of attending and helping to educate the groups about UAFA and what we were working on, they began to embrace our issues as well. Since then they have come around to supporting passage of UAFA and making sure that it is included in CIR, and helping to make sure it is discussed in every action we are involved in.

I was excited when SFBCIR asked O4I to participate in a national lobbying day in DC through the national efforts of Reform Immigration for America (RIFA), a nationwide effort to pass immigration reform. Through the work of RIFA, an effort was made to bring 1,100 (representing the number of people deported every day) civic leaders to DC push for immigration reform. This national effort called Relief, Reform, and Respect was an effort to make national congressional leaders understand the true human impact of our broken immigration system, and to call for a stop to the racist scapegoating that has gone on for too long, while pushing for immediate action.

Yet while the local coalition has embraced the issues of LGBT immigrants, I found a much harder sell with the national groups. Because national groups are desperately trying to bring in moderates and faith leaders, including the US Catholic Conference of Bishops and national evangelical leaders who have said they will not support a CIR bill that is inclusive of LGBT families, I quickly found that we could not publicly as a group push for the passage of UAFA. But we didn’t give up easily, and I quickly got reassurance for the local leaders that they would help to push UAFA where they could. All of the organizations expressed their personal support for including LGBT families, and many have individually endorsed these efforts. They have however found themselves constrained because of keeping together the larger coalition that is needed to push obstructionist Republican maneuvers on immigration reform.

I knew going to DC would be hard because of the difficult questions that would have to be raised and the frustration of trying to push legislation that not everyone agrees with. But I knew there we enough people committed to work on this that any efforts would be productive. Along the way, I was able to connect with Immigration Equality, who expressed interest in getting involved with efforts as well and who helped us strategize and to work on our efforts. In addition, we gained more allies along the way because of the participation of San Francisco Supervisor David Campos, who is an openly gay Latino man who came to the US as an undocumented immigrant and who has become a strong spokesperson for the rights of LGBT people and immigrants. We also had the support of an Episcopal priest who is himself in a binational relationship. Our testimonies and persistence were so powerful that we kept finding strong supporters and unlikely allies.

With RIFA leading the movement for CIR right now we have had some issues about pushing UAFA and inclusive CIR as part of their work. But it was really great being there and talking with national leaders of RIFA about the importance of including UAFA as part of inclusive CIR. I came bearing letters for all the Board members of RIFA coalition about this, and received good responses from many. Many RIFA organizations have endorsed UAFA and inclusive CIR but not all. And I did get commitments from many RIFA Board members to make sure to help push UAFA resolutions and try to get more commitments on this.

I'm feeling really hopeful and it would be great if more people want to help push these organizations to embrace UAFA. If you want to help me do this, you can send me an email at erikschnabel@hotmail.com.

(To read more about Erik's visit to DC - including his encounter with one of our strongest allies in the Senate, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), please click here.)

May Day Events in San Francisco and Beyond

[Note: If you are not in San Francisco, please scroll down to the middle of this post for more info on how you can take part in May Day activities in your city – and what we need O4I members to do.]

As in years past, Out4Immigration will be marching at May Day 2010 in San Francisco, with added strength in numbers!

At the end of the recent Building Bridges Conference (which was hosted by One Struggle One Fight), participants from the conference voted to form an LGBT contingent and to march with O4I in solidarity for passage of the UAFA! We will be assembling outside of the Mission Cultural Center at 2868 Mission Street before noon on Saturday, May 1 to join the march to Civic Center, where a rally will take place from 2-4PM.

Our contingent will be distinguished by the presence of an immense rainbow flag which once flew at Castro and Market. Bring signs, banners, friends, and family so we can march in solidarity to demand immigration equality for LGBT citizens, and comprehensive immigration reform which honors all families—and make sure to wear your O4I T-shirts!

Contact Chris Barnett at cbarnett.sf@gmail.com for additional details. Let Chris and/or Kathy at Kathy@out4immigration.org know if you plan to attend. We need volunteers to help carry our banner and to pass out our stickers. If you don’t have an O4I t-shirt, let us know what size you need so we can bring you one. We ask for a $10 donation for the shirt, if possible.

The wisdom of forming coalitions and supporting other communities emerged frequently over the course of the Building Bridges weekend, and the march and rally will present us with opportunities to do so. This strategy is all the more important as we have just witnessed events in Arizona. O4I’s presence in the march and rally has been welcomed and encouraged by many of the organizations which have worked to plan for May Day 2010 events, including the May Day 2010 Coalition, SFILEN, and RIFA, and we have been given a slot among the many speakers who will take to the stage at Civic Center to express the need for CIR, social justice, and workers’ rights. This is our chance to demonstrate our commitment to equality for all.

Some of the points being pushed for CIR by the planning effort include:

1) No on the Biometric Social Security Card
2) Shortening the proposed waiting period for legalization in the bill
3) No to the idea of provisional work visas till legalization happens.
4) All families are included in CIR, including UAFA and resolution of problems many Asian immigrant families are facing with the family reunification routes.

In addition to the march and rally, there will be pre-march activities happening the morning of May 1 at Dolores Street Community Services (DSCS) at 938 Valencia (@20th and 21st St). They are going to be constructing an altar for immigrants, will have an Interfaith Prayer Service, and a Press Conference. The prayer service includes various Christian leaders, including Bishop Mark Andrus of Episcopal Church. They are expecting that as many as 16 news agencies may show up as well. The news conference is at 10am at DSCS, Prayer Service at 10:30am. They will leave DSCS at 11:30am and march to 24 Street and Mission BART station to join all groups who are assembling.

For those of you not in San Francisco, we have an even bigger ask of you. We NEED you to join up with your local May Day marches and rallies to show support of your immigrant community.

Click here to see where an immigration reform rally/march will take place near you - and show up! Wear your O4I t-shirt and talk to people about the need for comprehensive immigration reform to include ALL families. We know this is a big ask, but from those of us who have begun interacting with our communities, either through coalition building or getting our city and state resolutions passed in support of UAFA, we can tell you that our issue is very well received. People just don’t know about it. When you tell them that the federal government ignores our families, treats LGBT couples like “legal strangers” and many American citizens have had to leave the U.S. and live in exile to stay with the person they love, guess what? People listen!

If you’re not sure what to say, watch this video of Amos Lim’s speech at a recent immigrant rights’ rally in San Francisco. He talks about how there are simply no rights for same-sex binational couples. It’s a moving speech – and you can use his talking points to tell your own story.

Don’t have an O4I t-shirt? You can get one online at Café Press: http://www.cafepress.com/out4immigration