Out4Immigration Launches United by Love, Divided by Law

PRESS ADVISORY: 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 13, 2012


Out4Immigration Launches United by Love, Divided by Law
Visual Protest Campaign to Raise Awareness about Same-Sex Binationals

Media Contacts:

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

Gina Caprio, Out4Immigration, 916-533-3618, gina@out4immigration.org

San Francisco, CA—February 13, 2012—Valentine’s Day is meant for couples to celebrate being together but that is impossible for Gina Caprio, who will spend the day separated from the love of her life by 5,000 miles, DOMA and discriminatory U.S. immigration laws.



Caprio, a U.S. citizen living in Sacramento, counts herself as half of one of the more than 36,000 same-sex binational couples who are denied the right to sponsor their foreign partner for a green card. This is a right that is accessible only to opposite-sex couples.

In spite of recent court rulings and state legislature wins for marriage equality in some states, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) remains on the books federally and defines a marriage as only that between a man and a woman. DOMA’s language extends itself into U.S. immigration law, which defines marriage the same way.

“It’s a lose-lose situation,” says Caprio, who has been with her partner, a British citizen, for 5 years. “We’ve spent most of that time apart.”

Out4Immigration, an all-volunteer grassroots group made up of same-sex binationals like Caprio who are separated from spouses, forced to live in exile, live their lives from visa to visa or risk deportation due to lack of any other option, is launching a visual protest called “United by Love, Divided by Law” just in time for Valentine’s Day.

“This project asks same-sex binational couples to submit a photo or a short video to show the world how loving couples, those who are legally married, in a civil union or a domestic partnership and are committed in every way possible, are denied the right to stay together in the United States,” says Amos Lim, a co-founder of Out4Immigration and the organization’s community outreach director.

“We know that one of the best ways to raise awareness is by telling people our stories,” says Lim. “Our members have been writing their stories for years. Now we are taking it up a notch using visuals. Pictures and videos have a better chance of going viral online and we want everyone to see what it looks like when you are torn apart from your spouse or forced to leave your country because its laws are so discriminatory.”

The United by Love, Divided by Law visual protest is accepting photo and video submissions through a Tumblr blog at  http://unitedbylovedividedbylaw.tumblr.com/.  Submissions should use the hashtag #UnitedbyLoveDividedbyLaw. An easy-to-download sign that says “United by Love, Divided by Law” is accessible on the Tumblr site and should be a part of each visual presentation.

“It’s important to use the sign in your visual,” says Caprio. “We want the message of this protest to be consistent. As same-sex binational couples we truly are united by love, divided by law.”

View a sample of the visual protest using the United by Love, Divided by Law sign: http://bit.ly/ginao4i  

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For more information:

United by Love, Divided by Law

Out4Immigration

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Out4Immigration is a national grassroots organization dedicated to raising awareness about the discrimination same-sex binational couples face under current US immigration law and the difficulties they encounter in keeping their families together legally in this country. For more information, visit www.out4immigration.org.

Entry Denied: A Documentary about Us

by Amos Lim


To date, there have been just a handful of projects that tell our stories to the world. Entry Denied, a documentary film by Machu Latorre, currently in post-production is almost ready to join the ranks with Judy Rickard’s book Torn Apart and Sebastian Cordoba’s film Through Thick and Thin.

Machu’s film has been a labor of love and determination. For 10 years she has followed three same-sex binational couples through their various journeys and documented their struggles and glimpses at happiness. As the years go by, their stories unfold to the point that today one couple is currently living in exile in Vancouver, one couple maintains a long distance relationship and one couple has been able to stay in the US.

Machu has primarily self-financed this project, with some support from friends and grants. As she prepares to finish the film and get it ready for submission into a series of high-profile film festivals festival (like Sundance, Telluride Film Fest and various LGBT film fests) she has launched a campaign on kickstarter.com. Can you help Machu finish telling these stories and get the message out to a larger audience? Please make a donation if you can (even if it is $10). You can also help by sharing this link on your Facebook page or other social media. We have always lamented the fact that our stories are not often told by the media. Projects like Entry Denied that have the potential for wide distribution increase the chance of more people learning about the discrimination we face and taking an active role in changing the laws that continue to separate our families.

Machu has provided a synopsis of the documentary on the kickstarter website - http://kck.st/nx98eP - this is also the link where you can contribute to help finance her post-production costs.

On a personal note, I’d like to tell you a little bit about Machu. My husband Mickey and I have known her for 10 years (almost the entire time she has been working on Entry Denied). Machu is from Spain and has also been in a same-sex binational relationship. When our house caught on fire, just 3 weeks before my OPT visa was about to expire, Machu was the first person to rush to our aid and offer us accommodation in her one bedroom apartment. She has been a wonderful friend and is the godmother to our daughter. I have seen the passion and commitment she has devoted to Entry Denied and know that this film will be very important to us all. If you believe as I do that there is no better way to raise awareness about what same-sex binational couples must deal with to stay together in this country than by telling our stories, please help support getting Entry Denied finished and shown to as many people as possible.

Microsoft Supports the Passage of Uniting American Families Act!

We just received this very important news from one of Out4Immigration's members today!  The volunteer, who prefers to be anonymous, has been working behind the scene to get Microsoft to support the passage of Uniting American Families Act.  He was also the person responsible for getting a resolution passed in the Bay Area in support of UAFA. 

So after all the hard work he has put in, Microsoft yesterday officially signed on! 

They sent a letter of support to Senator Patrick Leahy, who is the sponsor of the bill in the Senate as well as the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The copy of the letter is here (click on the image and it should bring you a PDF version of the letter).

This is an important step to show that corporate america supports equal immigration rights for same-sex binational couples!  And we are very thankful that the anonymous volunteer has worked so hard to get Microsoft to sign on!

Letter from Microsoft to Sen Patrick Leahy

Protesting the President

Last week, Out4Immigration collaborated with GetEQUAL and Marriage Equality USA (MEUSA) on our first effort to lead a protest in front of the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francsico, where President Obama was holding a fundraiser for his 2012 Presidential Campaign.

The event was pulled together within a week with Heather Cronk & Dennis Veite of Get EQUAL and Erik Schnabel of Out4Immigration. We had no expectations of how big or how small the turnout might be but we felt that with the recent roller coaster ride that the Obama administration put us through (see previous posts about USCIS abeyance policy), it was time to step up and remind the President of his campaign promises and that our families are still being torn apart due to the unfair immigration laws and unfair treatment under federal laws.

As with all events that involve the President or any Congressional representatives, there is always the small chance that the event might be rescheduled or canceled. And after a week of careful planning, that is exactly what happened. We got word on the morning of our protest that the President’s schedule had changed and he would not arrive at the Masonic until 8:30pm (an hour and half later than planned). We did our best to notify everyone through Facebook and press release that the time of our action had changed. This is not easy, since we’re an all grassroots group of volunteers, but we got the message out and people helped us spread the word.

Dennis, Erik and myself were outside Grace Cathedral, just opposite from the Masonic Center at around 6pm. We were located between ANSWER and Code Pink. We had our banners out in front of the barricades with the tagline “Stop Deporting Our Partners!” and were gathered there waiting for more people to show up.

Stephen Zollman was one of the first people to show up. He came wearing an Out4Immigration t-shirt. He had two tickets to the event and asked if one of us would like to go inside. We agreed Dennis should go – Stephen would wear the O4I shirt and Dennis would bring a sign that said "Equality Rights for All". We weren’t sure they’d get in with the t-shirt and the sign but they were going to try.

Around 7pm, Ms C (she prefers not to be identified) showed up in an orange jumpsuit with 2 signs that says “My crime is LOVE” and “My spouse is A-BROAD”. She was followed by Dave, who is separated from his partner who is unable to get a visa to come into this country. Dave also brought a sign that says “Support UAFA!” A few others soon joined us as well.

The signs, our t-shirts and the banner attracted a lot of attention from other groups and onlookers. There were a lot of people who took photographs of the signs with some asking for more information. While waiting for more people to arrive, we used the time to get to know each other more and share our stories.

ANSWER, the anti-war group that had the biggest contingent there set up a sound system and had a group of speakers ready to speak about their issues and their causes. At the end of that group of speakers, they started to reach out to the other organizations and approached us. Just as I walked up to the microphone and spoke, Obama's motorcade arrived and stopped in front of Masonic Center.

I used the opportunity as the final speaker to speak about why we were there. We were there because it was time for President Obama to act. We need him to demand that Congress finally pass the United American Families Act! We need him to urge Secretary Napolitano to reverse the policy of abeyance so that families facing deportation will not be deported and green card applications will not be denied since his administration has decided that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional! We also need him to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform that includes LGBT Families! We need him to do this because families are needlessly torn apart and broken up and we need action now.

I hope President Obama as he headed into the auditorium heard what I said. I hope that as his motorcade drove past us, he saw the banner that said "Stop Deporting Our Partners!" and I hope he takes action now.

This was a good first effort by us and we are grateful for the support of GetEQUAL and MEUSA –we could not have done this without them. Both groups are willing to work with us again, so if you would like to help us be part of more actions like this in the future, please let us know by sending an email to info@out4immigration.org.

MSNBC: Immigration Inequality Sends Salon's Glenn Greenwald to Brazil!

H/T to Towleroad.com

MSNBC's Thomas Roberts continues his coverage of the need for immigration legislation and the Uniting American Families Act with an interview with Salon's Glenn Greenwald, who was forced to go live in Brazil because he can't live in the U.S. with his partner.

MSNBC: Same-Sex Couples Fight for Immigration Rights!

Judy Rickard and Karin Bogliolo were interviewed by Thomas Robert at MSNBC this morning to talk about the reintroduction of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) last week.

During the interview, the couple disclosed that they have recently traveled to Vermont to get married! We just want to say thank you to this fearless couple, who are always willing to speak out at any opportunity about the struggles faced by same-sex binational couples trying to stay together in this country! You can watch the video of their interview below.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

We would also urge you to head on to change.org after you have finished watching the interview to join our weekly petition to try to get more support for EQUAL immigration rights for same sex binational couples. The link to the petition is here: http://tinyurl.change.org/KmsTQ

If you are interested in reading / buying Judy's book, Torn Apart - United by Love, Divided by Law, head on to findhornpress.com to buy a copy. If you use the code, OUT416, when you check out at findhornpress, a $4 donation will be earmarked for Out4Immigration.

CONTACT Congress - Week 71 - Letter Writing Campaign

Out4Immigration is an all grassroots organization and our letter writing campaign is now in its 71st week.

We must continue to keep this issue out front and make sure UAFA's language is included in any bill that moves forward.

Our efforts have gained us a LOT of co-sponsors in both the House (24) and Senate (5), and it's important to remember the impact that continued, consistent grass roots efforts have.

WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!

This week, we are focusing on five more members of the House - Let's finally hit our goal of 500 signatures!

Click the link to send an e-mail to all of these members of Congress, and please also forward this on to as many family and friends, and share on Facebook, Twitter, etc... We need as many people to sign this each week as possible, and the change.org link makes doing this quick and easy!

While you are there, signing our weekly petition, please also be sure to sign all of our previous weekly petitions!

We are also working on getting UAFA-supportive resolutions passed by city councils all around the country, and getting State, County and City elected officials to send letters to members of Congress urging them to support UAFA. Please contact Tom if you can help (it's very easy!!).