Story URL: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=84201
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A gay couple living in California travels to the nation's capital to promote gay rights through their art
Gays seek immigration reform
by
Sirena Rubinoff
March 19, 2008
Peter Sprigg from the Family Research Council talks about how the upcoming presidential elections will impact his organization's work.
Cristina Finch from the Human Rights Campaign compares U.S. immigration laws to international legal systems.
Related Links
Family Research Council website Human Rights Campaign websiteFamily Research Council apology
Statement by Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council, March 27, 2008 apologizing for remarks made in video interview accompanying this story:
In an interview with Medill News Service that was posted on the Internet last week, I discussed FRCs opposition to an immigration bill that would allow foreign nationals who are the same-sex partners of American citizens to immigrate to the United States on the same basis as foreign spouses of American citizens. FRC does not believe that homosexual relationships are the equivalent of marriage, and we therefore oppose any legislation that would treat such relationships as the equivalent of marriage. In response to a question regarding bi-national same-sex couples who are separated by an international border, I used language that trivialized the seriousness of the issue and did not communicate respect for the essential dignity of every human being as a person created in the image of God. I apologize for speaking in a way that did not reflect the standards which the Family Research Council and I embrace.
19 Gay-friendly Immigration Countries
1. Australia
2. Belgium
3. Brazil
4. Canada
5. Denmark
6. Finland
7. France
8. Germany
9. Iceland
10. Israel
11. Netherlands
12. New Zealand
13. Norway
14. Portugal
15. South Africa
16. Spain
17. Sweden
18. Switzerland
19. United Kingdom
WASHINGTON -- Immigration is always a hot button issue, but it becomes even more controversial when the immigrants seeking legal U.S. citizenship are homosexual. There's a new bill that would make it easier for gay Americans to sponsor their foreign partners' citizenship, but it's been sitting in Congress for months with no hint of progress.
In the meantime, thousands of gay and lesbian couples have been forced to leave their U.S. homes and move to one of the 19 countries that do acknowledge homosexual relationships.
The most recent U.S. census is eight years old, but at that time nearly 600,000 couples reported that they were living in same-sex households in the United States. Six percent of them, or an estimated 35,820 couples, were living in bi-national relationships where one partner was not an American citizen.
Gay rights lobbyists believe these numbers are lower than reality because of census question wording and concerns about confidentiality. However, California residents and longtime bi-national partners Tim Miller and Alistair McCartney have made it their mission to speak against the current immigration system through their art.
