On August 25, 2009, the LGBT community lost one of its greatest champions, Senator Edward Kennedy. During his Senate career, he offered steadfast support for a host of LGBT legislation. He always believed that even gay and lesbian Americans deserved equal rights and equal treatment under the law. Our community has definitely suffered a loss. For me, his support of the Uniting American Familes Act would help me and my partner return to America and for his support for this important legislation, I am grateful.

The UAFA still awaits being brought up for a vote in Congress!! Why is our government dragging its feet on something so important to bi-national couples? What is meant by "liberty and justice for all"? Thank you Mr. Kennedy for always believing our community should be treated equal under the law as all other Americans. Shame on all of the other politicians who continue to believe as though we are second class citizens. And shame on all those politicians who continue to not show their support for the UAFA. They must believe it is ok for an American citizen to have to live in exile.

LETTER TO MICHAEL MOORE

It has been a very long time between posts. May 6-8 is lobby week for the UAFA. Yesterday I sent this email to Michael Moore in hopes that maybe we can generate some exposure. I know it is a longshot but it doesn't hurt to try. The following is my email:

Dear Mr Moore,

I don't think I have ever sent a e-mail to a film celebrity before but here goes. I have seen both of your documentaries I can't count how many times--and in my opinion they were both right ON target. I am now going to take a chance that you are an open minded individual and hope that you can see another situation from a human perspective.

Every day Americans in loving, same-sex, binational relationships are forced to make heartbreaking choices to maintain their relationship; including leaving the United States to be with the person they love. There is a bill that has been in Congress since 2000 that if enacted could end this discriminatory policy in the U.S. immigration code. The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) is currently in committee again--H.R. 221 and S.1328 respectively. In fact, according to the 2000 U.S. Census there are an estimated 40,000 such couples.

The UAFA seeks to fulfill the pledge of family unification under current U.S. Immigration policy by adding the term “permanent partner” where the word “spouse” currently appears in the Immigration and Nationality Act. This would allow American citizens and permanent residents the ability to sponsor their same-sex partner for immigration benefits without challenging the Defense of Marriage Act.

I met my partner in February 2003 in Portland, Oregon. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Somehow I knew she would change my life forever. Before we planned our commitment ceremony, my partner informed me that in 2002 she had filed a claim for political asylum in the U.S. At first I had no idea of the impact this would have on us or how our future could possibly be affected. Then I did some research. My partner had passed the one-year deadline and it would be almost impossible to get past this legal challenge. I further found that there was no relief for same-sex couples under the law. In January 2005 we were both forced to flee to Canada for protection. It is hard to quantify how it feels to be exiled from your own country. Yes we are safe, together, and grateful to this country for giving us that opportunity but we still have not been able to adjust. I think it has to do with the fact that we were essentially forced to live here. If we had a choice, we would still be home in the U.S. There is not a day that goes by that both of us yearn to be back home. As a U.S. citizen, I am still struggling to understand how my relationship is so threatening that it warrants being exiled. Our life at home was totally destroyed. We had to leave our home, jobs, family, friends, and posses­sions behind. Our credit was literally devastated from attempting to stave off our departure and live a normal life at the same time.When we came to Canada, we had no support network, no place to stay, and no status. For almost three weeks we lived in a shelter. Neither of us had ever lived like that before and to this day it has affected us in a way that is hard to explain.
Finally, I hope you will agree that not only is it fundamentally unfair to force any American into exile, separating them from their family, friends and community but it is essentially a form of persecution. The UAFA remains the only way to keep loving couples together, and I hope that there is way that you can help. I urge you to take a look at the following websites to read our stories firsthand--to see our suffering and longing for only one thing--to be able to keep our families together in the country that we love:

http://www.immigrationequality.org/
http://www.loveexiles.org/
http://www.out4immigration.org/

LIVING IN EXILE

I often wonder what is wrong with me. Why have I not accepted my new home? Will it be permanent? Am I just ungrateful? Why do I keep longing to "be home"? Do people look at me and think she needs to just get over it?

I look at other people who have made the move and they seem undoubtedly excited--why not me too. I am grateful and excited about us being together however I still feel we were not given a choice and this fact I just can't seem to reconcile.

CANADIAN WORKPLACE

I know I have posted before regarding Canada's weak labor laws. I am just curious if anyone else who has came to Canada has experienced something like this. I am trying very hard to lose faith in the system here but sometimes I really wonder.

My wife works with a "government" contracted employer. She was on break the other day and having a conversation with a fellow employee. Apparently the guy was carrying his wife's cell phone which happened to be pink. He acted like he was ashamed to be carrying it and she asked him why. His response--I don't want anyone to think I am a "faggot". Yes this happened at the workplace. She was totally shocked. Now yes she works in a male environment but there are women who work there too but there is no excuse for using this type of language at work.

I am 40 years old and never in my life in the U.S. have I heard this word at work. And she was there for 16 years and she has never heard this. For most parts of the country it would not be tolerated. I am not sure if it just Ontario or the metropolitan area we live in but hope that all of this place is not like that. The workplace protections are simply not comparable. And this is not the first time an incident like this has happened. Just wondering if anyone has had any experiences like this.

IMMIGRATION EQUALITY CENSURES MEMBERS COMMMENTS

Below is a comment I sent to IE regarding the organization's threat to use a member of the LGBT community for---nothing more than using a similar name for this website-- www.immigrationequality.us.

Yes Immigration Equality was threatening a lawsuit against someone for creating a website to bring awareness about our situation. What could it hurt? I sent a comment to the organization in response to this individual's email and it was not approved. Below is my comment:

Hello,Your message to the ImmigrationEqualityMembers group was not approved. The owner of the group controls the content posted to it and has the right to approve or reject messages accordingly.In this case, your message was automatically rejected because the moderator didn't approve it within 14 days. We do this to provide a high quality of service for our users.A complete copy of your message has been attached for yourconvenience.Thank you for choosing Yahoo! Groups

What IE does not have anything better to do than threaten a LGBT citizen with a lawsuit?
A better target would be the federal government and DOMA!!! This is the most outrageous notion I have seen in a while. A lawsuit simply because a citizen has chosen to create a venue to speak out against the sickening discrimination of the US government. Come on IE can't we make better use of the resoures?

Well IE this is my blog and I will post whatever I want to especially if it pertains to the situation of GLBT citizens and our fight for equal treatment.

CLINTON AND OBAMA SUPPORT FOR UAFA LUKEWARM

Clinton and Obama both say they support the UAFA in "principal" but have issues regarding potential fraud. So they are worried about fraud but are not too worried about American citizens living in exile. Well as far as I am concerned, the US immigration system is perpetrating a fraud on LGBT American citizens but it seems Clinton and Obama are ok with this.

I think they are more concerned about their potential of electability than LGBT Americans.

BUSH PUSHES PHONY IMMIGRATION BILL

Read select quotes below:

He described his proposal — which has been agreed to by a bipartisan group of senators — as one that "makes it more likely we can enforce our border — and at the same time uphold the great immigrant tradition of the United States of America."

" Great tradition"--looks like the new tradition is to stop immigration period.
Why won't the government try to fix some of the real problems? Example why does it take so long to sponsor a relative? Should it really take 14-25 years?

"A lot of Americans are skeptical about immigration reform, primarily because they don't think the government can fix the problems," Bush said.

People are skeptical because the government cannot fix shit. They are using immigration as way to try to divide people. Sick as usual.

"And my answer to the skeptics is: give us a chance to fix the problems in a comprehensive way that enforces our border and treats people with decency and respect. Give us a chance to fix this problem. Don't try to kill this bill before it gets moving," Bush told students and instructors at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

"Treats people with decency and respect"--Sorry Mr. Bush you don't know anything about decency and respect and neither does your INS!
Case in point:
-This proposal does nothing to solve the wait times for relatives being sponsored in the US
-This proposal does nothing for LGBT Americans
-This proposal actually may eliminate categories for siblings of American citizens or PR
If the government wants to push an amnesty bill, make it a real amnesty bill! Not one loaded with bullshit and that is all this one has.


"You can use it to frighten people," Bush said. "Or you can show leadership and solve this problem once and for all."
The bill would give temporary legal status to millions of unlawful immigrants, provided they came forward, paid a fine and underwent criminal background checks. To apply for a green card, they would have to pay another fine, learn English, return to their home country and wait in line.
The plan also would create a guest worker program. It would allow foreign laborers to come to the U.S. for temporary stints, yet with no guarantee they can eventually gain citizenship.

Yes Mr. Bush that is what the government does best--frightens people. After all that is how you got elected last time. And of course the best immigration bill is the one where there is no guaratees for the people who are giving everything they have for America--including its own citizens--but then again you don't count gay and lesbian Americans citizens do you?