ACT On Principles

It’s great to see that our Act on Principles website is now “whipping” our legislators’ positions on both the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA)(HR.1024 and S.424) as well as the House version of the Reuniting Families Act (RFA)(HR 2709), which has completely incorporated UAFA.

I have worked on many LGBT and HIV-related immigration issues over the years, including building coalitions among LGBT, HIV/AIDS and immigrant organizations and advocates. All this work means that I strongly believe that the best way to gain full immigration rights for LGBT couples and individuals will be for our LGBT communities, activists and allies to also support fair immigration laws for ALL immigrants and refugees.  It’s not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing politically and strategically.

Look how the legislative strategy for UAFA has evolved, reflecting the best in coalition-building among and with our legislative champions and allies.  When Representative Jerry Nadler first introduced the bill (then called the Permanent Partners Act) in 2000, there were very few co-sponsors, no committee hearings and no votes taken.  We should be very grateful to Representative Nadler, Senator Patrick Leahy (the sponsor of bill in the Senate beginning in 2003), Immigration Equality, local LGBT immigrant and bi-national couple organizations, and many, many LGBT couples and activists for being so persistent in their organizing and advocacy over the years.  Representative Nadler has re-introduced his bill in every session of Congress and today, UAFA has 117 co-sponsors in the House and 23 co-sponsors in the Senate.  On June 3, 2009, the Senate Judiciary Committee held the first ever hearing on UAFA and heard compelling testimony about its importance and urgency.

Yet despite all this great work, almost everyone in Congress believes that UAFA as a stand-alone bill is not likely to be enacted any time soon.  Immigration law is extremely complex – as well as controversial – especially in challenging economic times when immigrants are more likely to be scapegoated.  Stand-alone bills to change our immigration laws almost never get enacted; they usually become part of a broader bill, or “comprehensive immigration reform,” as it is now talked about.

So Representative Nadler has worked closely with Representative Mike Honda (and LGBT organizations and advocates) to incorporate all of UAFA (plus some technical improvements related to the definition of a child under immigration law, naturalization and protections for immigrant women facing domestic violence) into a broader bill on family immigration, the Reuniting Families Act (HR 2709).  Representative Honda has been an articulate champion for LGBT couples and families, emphasizing that his bill is intended to secure fair immigration rights for ALL families, including LGBT couples and families.  He has resisted pressure from some otherwise immigrant-supportive organizations from faith communities to drop the UAFA provisions from RFA and stood firmly as an advocate for LGBT couples and individuals.

And look at the impressive and diverse number of groups who have already expressed their public support for RFA – which includes UAFA, and therefore support for LGBT immigration rights:  the NAACP, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Council of La Raza, League of United Latin American Citizens, Asian American Justice Center, Organization of Chinese Americans, Japanese American Citizens League, National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, Southeast Asian Resource Action Center, South Asian Americans Leading Together, American-Arab Discrimination Committee, Arab American Institute, Anti-Defamation League,  American Jewish Committee, Union for Reform Judaism, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Episcopal Church, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and Service Employees International Union.  These are exactly the organizations – and the communities and constituencies they represent – who we as an LGBT movement need to build closer alliances, greater trust and shared successes.

This shared work also highlights that we are part of other communities – that there are LGBT folks in every minority, immigrant, faith, labor and other constituency.  And here we all are now working together on a bill that has brought us together – on both LGBT and broader immigrant rights.

The final strategy step towards enactment will be a “comprehensive immigration reform” bill that will also have to address the much more difficult issues of enforcement, legalization and other reforms.  The more support there is for RFA and UAFA with co-sponsors and others on the public record, the more likely the LGBT provisions become part of any broader immigration bill that moves forward.

One of the equality goals of the Dallas Principles, which inspired this Act on Principles website, is that “Every LGBT person has the right to a family without legal barriers to immigration, civil marriage or raising children.”  To make sure that these immigration bills move forward in Congress, this website now gives all of “something to do” – to “act on principles.”

We can use the public whip counts of UAFA and RFA and update them.  We can get every one of the co-sponsors and supporters of UAFA to now co-sponsor or otherwise publicly support RFA (we also need a version of RFA in the Senate that includes UAFA).

We can reach out to local organizations, advocates and activists in immigrant, minority, faith, labor and other communities and help mobilize their support for RFA and explain why it is so important to include LGBT couples and individuals in a family immigration bill and any comprehensive immigration reform.  We can educate our own LGBT organizations and communities about the broader immigrant issues at stake and why they should be equally strong allies for immigrant rights.

All our work will help build the momentum for broader immigration reform, which will greatly increase the chances of the UAFA provisions ultimately getting enacted.

Act now.  No delay. No excuses.