Out4Immigration Joins National Day of Action for Comprehensive Immigration Reform in San Francisco

by Amos Lim

The San Francisco Bay Coalition for Immigrant Justice organized a day of action to coincide with the National Day of Action for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. About 1000 people showed up in front of Senator Dianne Feinstein's San Francisco office at One Post Street to march to the Federal Building in the Civic Center for a rally.

Before the march started, a small group of people went into Sen. Feinstein's office for a meeting to urge her to be a champion for Comprehensive Immigration Reform that is humane and LGBT-inclusive. That group included two of our volunteers Kathy Drasky and Viki Forrest who represented same-sex binational couples.

Before the march started, Out4Immigration distributed rainbow flags and stickers, which were very popular. As we marched down Market Street, it was wonderful to see our rainbow flags flying high in the crowd.

It was also really great to see signs in Chinese advocating for an LGBT-inclusive immigration reform and advocating for LGBT families! Here are some photos from the march. Be sure to scroll all the way to the end to see the speech by our volunteer Gina Caprio. It is amazing!



Many thanks goes to Chinese for Affirmative Action, Asian Law Caucus, and ASPIRE (API DREAMers) for producing the signs in Mandarin that said "Immigration Reform Must Includes Same-Sex Couples".

Many thanks also go to Kathy and Viki for attending the meeting with Sen. Feinstein's office, Gina for speaking at the rally and Erik Schnabel for being the lead in the organizing team for the day's event.

In spite of hearing reports that we will be left out of the Senate's CIR bill, let's not give up just yet. We have many allies, supporters and friends that have our backs. Call your Senators at (202) 224-3121. It doesn't matter if they are part of the Senate's Gang of 8 or not. All Senators who have constituents that are in same-sex binational relationships - or know someone who is part of an LGBT-immigrant family - need to hear from us!

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. 

Out4Immigration Prominently Featured at Congressman’s San Francisco Press Conference on Immigration Reform

by Erik Schnabel

On Wednesday, April 27, Out4Immigration and other LGBT and immigrant rights' groups were invited to stand on the steps of San Francisco City Hall with Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL). Congressman Gutierrez stopped in San Francisco as part of his 20+ city tour across the United States called Change Takes Courage. The Courage tour focuses light on the impact of not having passed immigration reform in Congress, and the local significance of people facing the real life consequences in their daily lives.

[In this photo, Jay Mercado (at the mic) speaks next to Shirley Tan. Erik Schnabel is wearing his O4I t-shirt, Rep. Gutierrez is at the right. See more pics, click here.]

The Tour calls on President Obama to do what he as the President of the United States has the power to do, and grant administrative relief for people facing deportation, especially since Congress has failed in its attempt to do so. The demands of the tour are to:

1) Keep families together - stop tearing apart families through deportation.
2) Stop Turning the Police into ICE agents - Programs like S- Comm, 287g and other local collaborations with police are trapping innocent people.
3) Everyone’s help is Needed to Grow the Economy - immigration programs that go after workers are wrong.

The press conference grew out my participation as a volunteer Community Outreach Organizer with Out4Immigration. In this role I reached out to the San Francisco Bay for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (SFB4CIR) coalition, whose meetings I have attended since last year. SFB4CIR is connected to many of the national groups working on immigration reform, which Congressman Gutierrez contacted for help on his tour. As the organizing began happening, it became clear that through O4I’s long-term connection with the local coalition’s work that we could really influence the message of the press conference and bring light to the fate of LGBT immigrants and binational same-sex couples. I was able to connect through O4I’s network to members who offered testimony. Surprisingly, I was even asked to co-emcee the press conference!

The press conference was very inspirational. Testimony was offered by community members from all aspects of the immigration debate. I was able to share my own experiences as a US citizen partner in a binational same-sex relationship, and was honored to introduce Jay Mercado and Shirley Tan, the same-sex binational couple who made national news when Shirley’s deportation was stopped through intervention by a private bill in Congress. Other testimony came from Norma, a woman who was taken by immigration agents when she reported her domestic violence situation; a high school teacher who spoke out for her DREAM Act eligible students who were too afraid to speak because of their immigration status; a union organizer who has seen immigration used as a tool when workers organize and demand their rights; and a woman who came as a refugee from Iran but knows that except for the fact that she was able to qualify as a refugee she might be in the same situation as many others. Equally powerful was the closing prayer by an Episcopal priest, who talked about being an openly gay man who shares his life with two immigrants - his binational partner and their internationally-adopted son.

In addition to Congressman Gutierrez, we were also joined at the press conference by San Francisco Board of Supervisor President David Chiu, Supervisors David Campos and John Avalos, as well as representatives from the offices of Assemblyman Tom Ammiano and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Supervisor David Campos, as an openly gay Latino man who immigrated to the US without documents, used his speaking time to hold up the plight of LGBT immigrants and the need to push for reform that includes us. Congressman Gutierrez assured the crowd that any immigration reform measure that he introduces in Congress will include language for LGBT immigrants and same-sex binational couples and that he will fight to make sure we are included in his conversations with President Obama and anywhere else immigration is debated.

If you'd like more information on doing community outreach like this where you live, please feel free to contact me at erikschnabel@hotmail.com or Amos Lim at amos@out4immigration.org. We need more of us to come forward and make connections in our communities that will reach to the top people in Washington who can deliver the change we so badly need.