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US: Proposed Immigration Reform Leaves Out Same Sex Couples

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Some gay rights advocates are upset with a Chicago congressman who’s trying to spearhead an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws. Congressman Luis Gutierrez says he supports a proposal to allow lawful U.S. residents to sponsor the immigration of a same-sex partner.

GUTIERREZ: If you’re gay and you’re married, if you’re a man and man or a woman and a woman, I think the government should recognize that marriage.

But a sweeping immigration bill that Gutiérrez unveiled this month leaves same-sex families out. A statement from the congressman’s office says he does remain committed to ending discrimination against gay immigrants.

Full Story from Chicago Public Radio: http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=39071

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in bill, Congressman Luis Gutierrez, Gay Marriage, immigration, marriage equality, reform, same sex couples | No Responses »

FL: Attorney Suspended After Conviction for Trying to Keep Partner in US

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Eric Affholter, an attorney who practices in Pompano Beach, has had his law license suspension upheld by the Florida Supreme Court, based on Affholter’s arranging a fraudulent marriage designed to make his partner, a Peruvian man, a legal resident. It was a real-world consequence in the often abstract debate over whether same-sex partners should have the right to legally marry.

Late Monday, I left a message for Affholter on a voicemail box he shares with his partner, Pedro Cerna-Rojas. I hope to hear back today, and when I do I’ll post it on the blog. The felony marriage fraud case against Affholter dates to 2007, and it was filed in a court in St. Louis, Missouri, where he had been assistant public defender. After the jump, excerpts from a local news report about Affholter’s case.

According to local news reports, Cerna-Rojas had been staying in the U.S. on a student visa, which expired in June 2004. To allow him to stay legally in the U.S., a female friend of Affholter’s, who also worked in the public defender’s office, volunteered to marry Cerna-Rojas in a Las Vegas chapel.

Full Story from the New Times: http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2009/12/eric_affholter_gay_marriage_immigration.php

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in foreign partner, Gay Marriage, immigration, marriage fraud | No Responses »

Obama Denies Man's Partner Assylum Despite Couple's Gay Marriage in Massachusetts

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

A gay Brazilian man has been denied asylum by the Obama administration and won’t be reunited with his Massachusetts husband in the U.S., the husband said Monday.

Tim Coco said Attorney General Eric Holder did not act on a Friday deadline in the case of Genesio “Junior” Oliveira, effectively denying the 30-year-old Brazilian man’s request for asylum in the U.S. on humanitarian grounds.

“We needed the Attorney General to make a decision on whether Junior could come home,” said Coco, 48, of Haverhill. “He didn’t take this request seriously.”

Full Story from the AP: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gw-g_7TpOunvri-o-SIwk4cBOsaAD9BJ39S80

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in attorney general, eric holder, Gay Marriage, immigration, massachusetts, obama administration | No Responses »