[lbo-talk] Kerry Says He Might Support Constitutional Ban on Gay Marriage

[Jessica LaBumbard]

I agree with you in terms of the difficulty faced by het couples as well.  
The people who are scrutinized the most are those who come from countries in 
the south, are people of color, and marriages that are mixed.  In this case, 
what I failed to mention is that my Mexican friend was also undocumented 
which complicates the entrie issue.  In terms of other barriers for het 
couples too, at this point in time, undocumented people who entered the 
country illegally and have been here for more than 6 months, yet who wish to 
marry a US citizen risk being barred from returning to the US for 3 to 10 
years.  I know many people too who are in this same situaiton - the US 
citizen cannot petition for them because the person will have to return to 
their home country (again, if they had an illegal entry), which will then 
trigger a bar for 3 - 10 years, which then requires that they ask for a 
waiver based on the fact that a US citizen needs them for support....  The 
whole system is a mess.  I was working with a gay man from Guatemala who was 
targeted along with his boyfriend for trying to open a "queer space" in 
Guatemala City - he eventually got refugee status here (his boyfriend was in 
hiding when he left the country, so he came alone), but could not peition 
for his gay partner (as refugee families can do, and the process is 
expedited - doesn't mean it is fast, just faster than normal).  Couldn't do 
it obviously.  Within months, his boyfrined that was still in Guatemala was 
shot and killed.  Immigration is just an impossible system to navigate for 
familes period, and much more so for gays.

jessica

Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 09:33:30 -0500
From: Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu>
Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] Re: Kerry Says He Might Support Constitutional

	Ban on	Gay Marriage

Jessica:
>I did immigration law for awhile and tried to help gay couples who
couldn't
>petition for each other.  Very sad situation - it really sucked.  A
Mexican
>friend of mine is in this same position - and he just had to return to
>Mexico becasue his father is ill.  His chances of getting back here to
live
>with his boyfriend again?  Pretyy much zilch.

I do not think this is limited to the same sex couple - heterosexual
couples, even those married in the US, may experience similar problems,
especially if they are of a "wrong" skin color. In fact, the INS
scrutinizes all marriages quite closely (a marriage license alone is not
enough, you must prove common residence, intimacy etc.) to ferret out
those who married a green card.  I am pretty certain, though, that if
your friends were Dutch or British, coming back would not be such a
problem.

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