VIDEO: Where Is Home? Ken & Otts Tell Their Story

Where is Home? A Binational Gay Love Story from otts on Vimeo.
Ken, an American citizen, and his foreign-born spouse Otts, have already endured one painful separation. In 2014, they are facing another one...unless tomorrow's decision by the Supreme Court of the United States renders Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional.

VIDEO: MoveOn Video Encourages Support for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

The video, which features Amos Lim, Out4Immigration's Director of Community Outreach, also notes that there are flaws with the bill as written, namely the plan to exclude LGBT families.

Out4Immigration Actions in San Francisco, Hightlighted on KTVU News

A contingent of nearly 20 volunteers came to San Francisco City Hall on Thursday morning, May 16 to for a press conference with Supervisor David Campos (second from the right).

We were there to tell our stories about the fight for immigration rights and how marriage inequality does not let us sponsor our partners for immigration purposes.

We then moved to a subcommittee hearing chaired by Sup. Campos to decide if the City of San Francisco should put forward a resolution urging California's elected officials to support the inclusion of same-sex binationals in immigration reform. The resolution, drafted by O4I members Amos Lim and Erik Schnabel, was approved to advance to a vote by the entire Board of Supervisors later this month.

Following the hearing, the group rushed downtown for a 12:30 appointment to deliver a petition with more than 6,000 signatures started by Amos and picked up by MoveOn to Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office. The petition urges the Senator to support our inclusion in the immigration reform bill.

KTVU News was on the scene and interviewed volunteer Gina Caprio. We became part of a larger news story on the evening news devoted to groups who fear being left out of comprehensive immigration reform. The clip is archived here: https://twitter.com/out4immigration/status/335452591414730752

Once again thanks to the volunteers who came out for this midweek action - Amos, Erik, Gina, Judy, Chris, Kathy, John, Martha, Trey, Ashlee, Ky and supporters from MoveOn, the San Francisco faith community and Supervisor Campos.

Out4Immigration's Same-Sex Binational Couples Speak Out

Out4Immigration - Binational Couples for Immigration Equality in the US from Devote Campaign on Vimeo.

Big thanks to the DeVote Campaign for working with a group of us to capture our stories and expertly weave them into this compelling video. Please watch - and then circulate. We know of no better tool to tear down the walls that separate us from our partners, force us into exile, cause us to "go off the grid" and otherwise impact our daily lives than our stories. Tell yours!

What Would You Do?

Gina, a long-time Out4Immigration volunteer, speaks out and asks, "What would you do if your government denied you the right to live in your country with the person you love?" It's a stark look at the realities same-sex binational couples are forced to confront each day, while too many important people -- elected officials and those in charge of large organizations that collect a lot of money from the LGBT community and our supporters -- don't do all they can to end this gratuitous cruelty.

Laws like the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and our broken immigration system stand in the way of Gina being with the woman she loves. And she's not alone. Some 36,000 same-sex binational couples face deportation hearings, separations and hardships that are too numerous to list.

Watch and listen to Gina's story. Then, do something.

Get Involved, Get Empowered

Video by Gina Caprio

Out4Immigration volunteers take on and produce projects like this one, a simple video for YouTube that can go viral and be circulated around the world. It doesn't cost us much more than our time to tell our stories and get the word out that the United States lags far behind so many other countries and municipalities when it comes to equal immigration rights for our gay and lesbian citizens. Everyone is invited to contribute to making Americans aware the United States is denying people who love each other, adults in long-term committed relationships, the simple human right of sharing their lives together.

This is a right most Americans, including the majority of gay and lesbian Americans take for granted. But if you are a gay or lesbian American who falls in love with a person from another country, you will suddenly realize how fragile our "rights" are.

Please watch this video. Please circulate it. And please get involved as a volunteer with Out4Immigration. Email us at info@out4immigration today and let us know your ideas for raising awareness and achieving immigration equality for all Americans.

The Video That Can Change Hearts and Minds

Our members blog, we tweet, we Facebook and post to our Yahoo group. We write op-eds and give interviews on radio, TV and podcast. We've published our stories in major newspapers and magazines - crisp, clear well-written prose explaining how we met, what happened when we realized our relationships had no protection under US immigration law and how we came to support the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) and Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

Several of us have made videos documenting various aspects of being in a same-sex binational relationship -- united by love, divided by law.

But no one has ever documented those final hours a couple shares together, when they have to say goodbye for a period of time that is unknown to them, in such real-time, raw, unedited heartbreaking honesty - until now.

Our members Inger and Philippa captured these moments for the world to see in an effort to document for the world the injustice and discrimination in US immigration law against its own citizens and the men and women we love.

Click here to see the video, which is currently only available on Facebook. Note: It is difficult to hear the audio - but a transcript accompanies the video. The couple has had offers to help them "clean up" the video, but they prefer you see it this way. Its realness is jarring.

Join the Out4Immigration Facebook page (if you haven't already) and circulate this video to anyone who you think can help keep our families together. This raw footage is upsetting to watch, but unfortunately it happens way too often.

Help us stop this happening to good people, to American citizens who work hard, pay taxes and contribute to their communities. US immigration law does not recognize LGBT relationships at the federal level. And until that changes, there will be more couples forced apart like Inger and Philippa. It happens every week.

Join Out4Immigration on Facebook or on our Yahoo Groups list and get involved by taking part in our weekly letter writing campaign, building coalitions with other groups who will support UAFA and get your city or state to pass a resolution in support of UAFA and equal immigration rights for same-sex binational couples. We need every one of us who is affected by this issue - and who knows a couple like Inger and Philippa to get involved - today.