San Francisco Chronicle - June 19, 2006
Wyatt Buchanan, wbuchanan@sfchronicle.com.

Terry's partner is not in the country legally and because the San Francisco couple are gay, immigration benefits that allow heterosexuals to bring current or future spouses into the country are not available to them.

Terry's partner, who would not give his name for the record because he fears deportation, is HIV-positive and faces a government ban on HIV-positive people entering the United States. He applied once for residency -- and followed the advice of a member of Congress in listing his HIV status, he said -- but was rejected.

"Everything went through and they said, 'Get out immediately,' " said Terry's partner, who attended a forum on immigration for bi-national same-sex couples in the Mission District last week.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there are 36,000 bi-national same-gender couples in the country, not including couples not living together or those who hid their status from census takers. Bi-national couples are those where one partner is a citizen or permanent resident and the other is a citizen of another country.

Their presence in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights movement is growing.

Last month, the New York-based Human Rights Watch and Immigration Equality, an immigration advocacy organization for gays and lesbians, released a report on the problems caused by immigration laws' not recognizing same-sex couples. In Congress, more than 100 lawmakers are sponsors of the Uniting American Families Act, a bill that would give same-gender couples the same immigration rights as heterosexual couples.

The 181-page Human Rights Watch and Immigration Equality report is based on interviews with 35 binational same-gender couples. The couples describe an existence where decisions on things such as housing and family are made under a cloud of uncertainty over how long the couple can remain together.

"The really striking thing for me is the degree of financial and emotional stress this causes for people," said Scott Long, co-author of the report and director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch.

Long has a partner of 11 years who lives in Romania and has yet to get a visa to enter the United States.

The summary of the report recommends passing the Uniting American Families Act in Congress to "address an egregious inequality. It would protect dedicated families and their children. It would prevent the drain of talented people to other countries. Its passage is urgent."

The bill, written by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., would replace "spouse" with "permanent partner" in the Immigration and Nationality Act, which governs immigration procedures. To qualify as a permanent partner, one would have to be at least 18 years old in an intimate and lifelong commitment with a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. The couple would have to be financially interdependent and neither partner could be married to or in a permanent partnership with someone else. Same-sex couples would face the same scrutiny as heterosexuals.

The House bill has been introduced every year since 2000 but is currently stalled in the Judiciary Committee. A Senate version also is in the Judiciary Committee and neither is likely to be voted on by this Congress. The measures would create an exception to the Defense of Marriage Act, which limits marriage to opposite-gender couples. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and California Sen. Barbara Boxer are co-sponsors of the immigration bill. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is not.

On the flip side, the immigration reform passed by the House in December could mean jail time for same-sex couples who defy the law by staying together -- either for being in the country illegally or for harboring someone who is.

The issue faces challenges in the gay and lesbian community, too, gay and lesbian immigration advocates say. Gay rights advocacy is focused mainly on citizens and the issue is largely overlooked in the larger immigration debate.

When the National Center for Lesbian Rights, a legal services organization in San Francisco that has made immigration a priority and offers free legal advice on immigration issues closed May 1 as part of a larger immigration demonstration, the office received several phone calls, said Lena Ayoub, a staff attorney who leads the center's Immigration Project.

"Colleagues and constituents expressed concern. They said there are more important LGBT issues that need to be addressed and that we need to secure the rights of LGBT citizens first," Ayoub said.

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