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

Jessica LaBumbard jesslabumbard at hotmail.com
Wed Feb 11 11:57:20 PST 2004


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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