Join Out4Immigration at San Francisco Pride, June 29-30 and Attend DOMA Day of Decision Rally (Various Locations)

Another Day of Decision has come and gone, leaving only three more potential days for the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to announce their decisions on the pending DOMA and Proposition 8 cases.

Those dates are now: Monday, June 24, Thursday, June 27 or Friday, June 28.

Win, lose or draw - be sure to make your voice heard. Attend a Day of Decision rally in your city. Check this link for information. Our legal sources have informed us that if DOMA is overturned, same-sex binationals will be able to file marriage-based green card applications. We encourage you to consult with your immigration attorney as soon as possible. If you need recommendations, you can email us at info@out4immigration.org.

One thing is certain. We will have a SCOTUS decision before San Francisco Pride on June 29-30. That's why we need all hands on deck to help disseminate information at our booth at Civic Center on both days, as well as to march with us at 10 am on Sunday, June 30.

• To volunteer for a 2-hour shift at our booth, June 29-30, please RSVP at this Facebook link.
• To march with us at San Francisco Pride on June 30, please RSVP at this Facebook link.

Not on Facebook, but ready to help out? Let us know at info@out4immigration.org

This year we are again sharing booth space with our allies Marriage Equality USA (MEUSA) and marching behind their contingent in the parade. Our message is very much linked to theirs - marriage equality has always been one of the pathways to ending immigration inequality. With our current exclusion from the Senate immigration bill, the pathway to green cards for same-sex binationals hinges heavily on the DOMA decision. 

We will put out an email on the Day of Decision sharing with all of you what we know and available resources. Please keep visiting the Facebook links above and checking our blog and Yahoo News Group for our Pride booth number and Parade contingent meetup time and place. We'll encourage those of you marching in the parade to bring your own signs -- will they say finally "United by Love, United by Law" or ....?

Take a deep breath.

“I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it,
life is not worth living." - Harvey Milk.

Vote4Amos: Amos Lim, Co-Founder of Out4Immigration for SFPride 2013 Community Grand Marshall

by Kathy Drasky

It is with great enthusiasm I urge everyone reading this to vote for Amos Lim, Out4Immigration's fearless co-founder and stalwart leader for SFPride 2013 Community Grand Marshall. Click here to cast your vote.

You do not have to live in San Francisco, and you can vote for Amos plus two others to share this distinction - so, go ahead and click now and vote!

To those of you who have worked with Out4Immigration over the years, since we started up in 2006, Amos needs no introduction. He is the force behind this group that has taken us from the dark days, when even our own LGBT community knew very little about same-sex binationals, and propelled us onto the national stage.

Along the way, Amos has been one of the keys to building the bridge that now spans between comprehensive immigration reform and marriage equality. In this historic month, as Congress debates the inclusion of same-sex binationals in immigration reform and the Supreme Court of the United States hears the marriage equality cases, Amos' contribution rings loud and clear.

Those of us who volunteer alongside Amos know him as our champion. He motivates us when things seem bleak and supports us as a friend, understanding first-hand the daily struggles same-sex binationals face in coping with life under unjust immigration laws.

Your vote must be cast by the end of March, so please, click here now and give Amos and Out4Immigration your support. 

Amos' official bio for SFPride 2013 Community Grand Marshall, is reprinted below. Please feel free to share this post!

Amos Lim immigrated from Singapore to the United States in 1999 to be with his husband, Mickey. But this move was not simple. Amos and Mickey encountered first hand the discrimination faced by same-sex binational couples under current US immigration law, that was compounded by DOMA. The struggle to stay in America, and have his marriage recognized, led Amos to activism, first co-founding Out4Immigration  and then becoming a proponent of marriage equality.

As the Community Outreach Director for the all-volunteer grassroots group, Out4Immigration, Amos has worked both locally and nationally to raise the profile of same-sex binational couples, leading workshops, speaking to the media and teaching other couples to advocate for change to U.S. immigration law and meet with their Congressional representatives to ask for support of the Uniting American Families Act and Reuniting Families Act. Amos was an early supporter of full federal marriage rights, and forged strong alliances for same-sex binational couples with Marriage Equality USA and GetEQUAL.

Amos has been instrumental in raising awareness about the unique struggles same-sex binational couples face and bringing that into the larger immigration dialog. In 2007, he organized San Francisco’s Immigrant Rights Summit where LGBT immigration issues were discussed for the first time. He has also been part of the San Francisco City ID Card committee. Amos currently sits on the LGBT Advisory Committee of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and the City College of San Francisco's Bond Oversight Committee.

Amos has an extensive professional background in the corporate sector, with experiences in project management, community organizing, business development and human resources. He currently lives in San Francisco with his husband Mickey and their adorable 5-year-old daughter.

  

More info: Vote4Amos.com or vote for Amos here. 

San Francisco Pride Weekend Recap

by Chris Barnett

Out4Immigration's Pride Weekend in San Francisco was a big success. On both Saturday and Sunday Out4Immigration was present at the Marriage Equality USA and GetEQUAL booth, and it was great working alongside other community members demanding equality for all families—and our families!

If you have not seen this week’s petition on Change.org, please check it out (and sign and share!). Volunteers collected signatures all weekend to add to the petition, and had opportunities to talk and connect with a wide range of people, including a number of people in same-sex binational relationships. And as always, Mother Nature pulled back the fog to reveal glorious late June weather, it was pretty great to be there. Plus, when you’re standing in the shadow of City Hall with a veritable rainbow of humanity, beauty, and outrageousness, how can you want to be anywhere else? Thanks to the O4I volunteers and our friends from Stop The Deportations, MEUSA and GetEQUAL for their camaraderie and help!

We had great energy with our contingent and throughout the weekend's celebration. Many thanks to all the wonderful people who turned out to march with us, and helped us have such a great presence! We were delighted that the parade organizers put us right behind Marriage Equality USA, giving that section of the parade a strong equality-oriented presence.

Several rolls of stickers and a whole box or so of our “green cards” later, we found ourselves already turning off at 8^th Street, the end of the parade route! Some of us have been in this struggle longer than others, and while we all care and see the injustice, there were years where we might as well have been yelling into the dark. This year, we were greeted with shouts of approval, whistles, smiles, and applause. People are taking note of the injustice same-sex binational couples face, and we claimed Market Street as our own. People like the idea of equality!

Out4Immigration also co-presented "A Few Days of Respite," a film shown at the Castro Theater on Sunday afternoon as part of the Frameline San Francisco LGBT Film Festival. I have not, in all honesty, been able to catch up with O4I members who were there, so I have to report back on that—but I have no doubt they put their best feet forward and hope the film was good!

Thanks to everyone who turned out to represent and celebrate with us. From parents to small children, friends and loves, it was a proud moment indeed to come together and feel the energy of a crowd beginning to wake up to the injustices we’ve been struggling against for so long. It was a proud day indeed to be in San Francisco. If you couldn’t make it this year, you’ve got almost a whole year to plan for next year! By then, we hope our work and those of our allies in the struggle to stop deportations and recognize our relationships for immigration purposes will be in the past, and we will truly have a reason to celebrate. Help us make this happen--send an email to info@out4immigration.org and let us know you are ready to volunteer.