Forced to leave the USA
I just read an article about a gay couple that was forced to leave America because of the Defense of Marriage Act. This is 2011, not 211. Why are we still treating homosexuals as if they are any different from heterosexuals? It’s appalling that a few religious people get their panties in a bunch and can force others to live as they do.
Jesse Goodman and Max Oliva spent years shifting around tourist visas and work permits until five years ago when they’d run out of any other options and made the decision to leave the United States rather than separate. That was five years ago.
Washington is still sending mixed signals on what they plan to do about it. Goodman and Oliva, who is Argentinian, have decided to take the first step.
Rather than continue waiting for a resolution to that issue, Goodman and Oliva decided to move forward with trying to return to the U.S. by filing a fiance visa petition for Oliva.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) and 47 other members of Congress have written to the attorney general and the Department of Homeland Security asking that immigration officials hold off on rejecting visa petitions for same-sex couples and suspend deportations of married same-sex partners until the courts resolve whether the Defense of Marriage Act is constitutional.
The department said it would exercise discretion in individual cases, but that it would continue to enforce the law, which remains in effect.
“Right now the department’s position is that they can’t defend [the act] because it’s unconstitutional,” Lofgren said. “If that’s the case, then that leads you to the conclusion that you should not be enforcing it.”
So, it basically comes down to the fact that everyone knows that the DOMA is unconstitutional, but everyone in Washington is a coward who would rather get re-elected than do the right thing. It’s absolutely pathetic that Goodman and Oliva can travel to Hungary to live and work and then move to London where they both have a path to citizenship, but the United States continues to deny them their basic human rights and a chance.
Technorati