Out4Immigration Prepares for SCOTUS Review of DOMA Cases

Urges Action from Same-Sex Binationals in Lead Up to Court Decision

Media Contact: Amos Lim, Out4Immigration, 415-742-1626, amos@out4immigration.org

SAN FRANCISCO – DECEMBER 12, 2012 – Out4Immigration welcomes the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to hear two cases challenging the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The court announced its intent to review the law on December 7^th.  A final decision is expected in June 2013. 

A ruling in favor of dismantling Section 3 of DOMA would give same-sex couples access to 1,138 federal marriage rights they are currently denied, including the right of an American citizen married to a foreign national the ability to secure a green card for their spouse. An estimated 40,000 of these couples, known as same-sex binationals, will benefit immensely from the end of DOMA.

Section 3 is the part of DOMA that says the word “marriage” can only be used to define a union between one man and one woman at the Federal Level. SCOTUS has chosen to hear the case in which an 83-year-old-widow, Edie Windsor, has been forced to pay more than $300,000 in estate taxes on her wife’s property due to DOMA. Heterosexuals do not have to pay estate taxes on property inherited from their spouse.  

“Just like Edie Windsor, same-sex binationals are also subject to  the harsh consequences of DOMA,” said Amos Lim, Community Outreach Director for Out4Immigration. “Immigration rights for spouses also are impacted by Section 3 of DOMA. As a consequence we have seen couples literally torn apart – forced to live on two separate continents, only able to spend a few weeks together each year.”

“We’ve also seen couples fall out of legal status, and face two very unacceptable options. Leave the US to live in exile in a country with more favorable immigration and marriage equality laws or accrue unlawful presence and face the daily fear of deportation.”

All of these options take an enormous emotional, physical and financial toll on the couples, their families and extended communities. 

Earlier this week, Out4Immigration joined more than 50 groups in signing a letter to the Obama Administration that asks for a green card abeyance policy to be put in place until SCOTUS makes its decision on DOMA.

While the fate of DOMA is now in the hands of SCOTUS, Out4Immigration urges same-sex binationals come forward and tell their stories to stoke the court of public opinion that already favors same-sex marriage. Out4Immigration has made it easy for couples to share their stories by completing this form: http://bit.ly/O4ICountMeIn

Stories of how couples met and the challenges they have faced in remaining together in spite of DOMA and immigration inequality are being featured on Out4Immigration’s blog, its United by Love, Divided by Law visual protest site and by GetEqual, an LGBT rights group working for full federal equality. The stories are being used to make the case for the Obama Administration to enact a “green card abeyance” policy, that is, to hold the applications of green cards for foreign nationals in same-sex binational relationships until DOMA’s constitutionally is decided by SCOTUS.

The stories will also be presented when Congress takes up comprehensive immigration reform next year, to ensure that same-sex binationals are included in any immigration reform legislation being introduced and voted on.  

“There is unbelievable power in these personal stories,” says Lim. “So many people are unaware of the struggles same-sex binationals face. When they hear that DOMA and US immigration laws have forced people to choose between their spouse and their country, they stand up and say, ‘This is wrong. This is not American.’ And then, we hope, they will call or write Congress to demand change.”

Share your story, or share this link with a same-sex binational couple you know: http://bit.ly/O4ICountMeIn

  

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For more information:

Out4Immigration: http://www.out4immigration.org

Out4Immigration blog (featuring stories of same-sex binationals): http://out4immigration.blogspot.com/

United by Love, Divided by Law: http://unitedbylovedividedbylaw.tumblr.com

Count Me In / Same-Sex Binationals Share Their Stories: http://bit.ly/O4ICountMeIn

United by Love, Divided by Law: http://unitedbylovedividedbylaw.tumblr.com

GetEqual: http://getequal.org/

“Supreme Court Showdown: With Prop. 8 and DOMA Heading for SCOTUS, Historic Hopes Mingles with Quieter Caution”: http://www.metroweekly.com/news/?ak=7965&pagenumber=all

“Gay Marriage Support: 51 Percent of Americans Are in Favor of Marriage Equality, Poll Shows”: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/14/gay-marriage-support-majority-americans-poll_n_2130371.html

Groups Call on Obama Administration to Take Action for Binational Couples”: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2012/12/10/54-groups-call-on-obama-to-take-action-for-bi-national-couples/

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Press Release: Out4Immigration's Weekly Letter Writing Campaign for LGBT Immigration Rights Marks 1-Year Milestone

Grassroots Group’s Messages to Congress Call for Passage of Uniting American Families Act, Equal Immigration Rights for Same-Sex Binational Couples

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — March 1, 2010 — One year ago, Gina Caprio, an American citizen living in Sacramento, CA was determined to do something to change the way unjust US immigration law was affecting her life. Caprio had fallen in love with someone in the UK a few years earlier. The relationship had taken the usual twists and turns associated with a long-distance romance, but when Caprio and her partner decided they wanted to live together in the US, a door slammed shut. Caprio’s UK partner is a woman – and together they are a same-sex binational couple – one of more than 36,000 according to a Human Rights Watch Report.

Because the US does not recognize same-sex relationships in any form at the federal level, the US half of the couple cannot sponsor their foreign partner for legal residency here. While opposite-sex binational couples have long taken advantage of marriage as a means to stay together in the US – same-sex couples, whether married or not, remain harshly discriminated against.

“When I heard the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) had just been re-introduced in Congress, I knew I had to do something that would make sure this legislation would pass,” said Caprio.

She joined Out4Immigration, an all-volunteer group made up of same-sex binational couples, their families and other supportive individuals and learned from them that UAFA needed more co-sponsors in both the House and the Senate.

While this, the fifth re-introduction of the bill by Rep. Jerrold Nadler [D-NY-8] and Sen. Patrick Leahy [D-VT] came with 80 co-sponsors in the House and 14 in the Senate, it was nowhere near the number needed to gain a judiciary hearing, much less a floor vote.

“We drafted a form letter that allowed space for people to tell how hard it was to be in a same-sex binational relationship in America and started contacting previous co-sponsors of the bill by email, fax and snail mail,” Caprio said. Out4Immigration has about 400 active members around the world. Using the Change.org website, Facebook and Twitter, these members spread the word about the campaign and each week’s targets.

“We saw results of the weekly letter writing campaign almost immediately,” said Mickey Lim, Vice President of Out4Immigration. “Rep. Ed Pastor [D-AZ-4] and Sen. Kirsten Gillebrand [D-NY] were quick to read our stories and sign on. But the real indication that we were making an impact – that our voices were being heard – was when Congressional staffers called us and said ‘You’re jamming our fax lines and crashing our email systems!’ You have to send a lot of messages to do that.”

The combination of the letter writing campaign, strategic efforts by other LGBT groups and advocates, and the 11th-hour private bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein [D-CA] that stopped the deportation of a Filipino woman named Shirley Tan, who was nearly forcibly separated from her same-sex American partner and their two children led to a Senate Judiciary hearing on UAFA last June. While the bill has since picked up more Senate co-sponsors, Feinstein, ironically, has not signed on.

Tom Tierney, another Out4Immigration volunteer joined the letter writing campaign and added a weekly “Call Congress” action after the June hearing. A revised letter now asks five members of Congress each week to co-sponsor UAFA as well as support same-sex binational couples in comprehensive immigration reform (CIR). A bill introduced by Rep. Mike Honda [D-CA- 15] last September called the Reuniting Families Act (RFA), is inclusive. A Senate version of that bill, however, is not.

When a bill by Rep. Luis Gutierrez [D-IL-4] called “CIR ASAP” omitted same-sex binational couples late last year, “our members and their families jammed his phone lines,” Lim says. And, when rumors circulated that Sen. Charles Schumer [D-NY] might be considering leaving same-sex binationals out of his Senate counterpart bill, “our members were quick to act and call his office, too.”

“The people we target each week are selected based upon their past voting records on LGBT and immigration issues, as well as the committees on which they sit in their respective chambers of Congress,” explains Tierney, who continues to try to net some Republican support to go with the so-far all-Democrat numbers.

Last week, UAFA picked up a key co-sponsor, Rep. Maxine Waters [D-CA-35], bringing the total number of House supporters to 120 – more co-sponsors than any other immigration bill. “In total, we’ve seen 5 Senators and over 20 members of the House sign on as UAFA co-sponsors after we’ve written to them. They’re getting the message,” says Tierney.

Meanwhile, Gina Caprio and her partner have temporarily overcome their separation through a student visa. “But the emphasis here is on the word ‘temporary,’” says Caprio. Until same-sex binational couples are recognized at the federal level, either through passage of UAFA or its inclusion in larger CIR, the Out4Immigration letter writing campaign will continue.

“No one should have to choose between their country and their family,” says Lim. “Our letters and phone calls address the very real issue that LGBT Americans with foreign partners have very few legal options to live together in this country.”

Media Contacts:
Amos Lim, Out4Immigration, 347-OUT-4IMM, Amos@out4immigration.org
Kathy Drasky, Out4Immigration, 415-606-2085, Kathy@out4immigration.org