Equal Civil Rights Rally in Sarasota, FL November 14 Will Focus on UAFA
Published November 11, 2009 @ 09:27AM PT
Shannon Fortner, lead singer of MeteorEYES and activist for equal immigration rights has organized an Equal Civil Rights Rally in her home base of Sarasota, Florida this Saturday, November 14.
Fortner raises awareness about the need for the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) at her concerts by tossing Out4Immigration t-shirts into the crowd and talking about how she is forced by US immigration law to live separately from her same-sex partner Kelly, a British citizen. Fortner believes the many LGBT organizations working for equal rights in the US need to come together and focus on the repeal of DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) and DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) and passage of ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act) and UAFA.
"LGBT citizens are tired of inhumane laws and refuse to remain quiet any longer. Love is love. Family is family. Government should never tie religion into the law. It is against the Constitution," says Fortner. "We are the face of change and we are ready to fight."
Join Shannon and more than 150 other Floridians and their friends to march down the streets of Sarasota, starting at 9:45 am, this Saturday, November 14, from 5 Points (downtown) to The Bay Front, Island Park Dr. (north side) for a rally at 10 am. Bring signs and your energy to make change. You can get more info about this event on Facebook at Equal Civil Rights Rally.
Read more about Shannon and Kelly's struggle to be together against the enormous odds stacked against them by US immigration at the Creative Loafing blog.
1 more cosponsor of Uniting American Families Act - 118 in total now!
Published November 09, 2009 @ 09:16AM PT
Hey Folks,
If you don't believe that writing letters worked, here's something to brighten up your Monday.
Rep Alan Grayson, one of the target of our letter writing campaign 3 weeks ago, just signed on to be the 118 cosponsors of UAFA. This is also the 1st week that we started our action page on change.org to make it simpler for you to send your letters!
Drop Rep Grayson an email to thank him for supporting the bill (he accepts emails from everyone) or give his office a call at (202) 225-2176 to let his office know what this means to your family and you!
Don't forget, this week, we are targeting Rep Luis Gutierrez to make sure that he includes us, LGBT families, in his immigration reform bill. If you have not participated, the link is here:
http://www.change.org/ideas/2008/view_action/urge_rep_gutierrez_to_include_lgbt_families_in_his_comprehensive_immigration_bill
Remember, once you have sent the letter to Rep Luis Gutierrez, we encourage you to go to our action page and take part in the other letter writing campaign. Don't just sign one... as every action is a different one, sign them all!
If you want to do more, click here to find out how else you could get more cosponsors.
Please do not lose hope.... this is working... believe it!
Actions to take to get more support for UAFA
Published November 08, 2009 @ 11:03AM PT
Many people have asked what they can do to ensure that the Uniting American Families Act passes or to make sure LGBT Families are included in Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
We encourage you to go to our action page and take part in our letter writing campaign. Don't just sign one... as every action is a different one.
If you want to do more, here are some other ways you could help us get more co-sponsors:
(1) Write your own letter and share your personal story about why this bill and issue is important for you and/or your family member;
(2) Creat a booklet telling your story. See http://tinyurl.com/o4i-toolkit1 for more info on this option.
(3) Send the action page link to your families and friends and get them to send letters too… it is just a simple click of the button and it is easy.
Out4Immigration is an all grassroots organization and you can find more information about us at http://www.out4immigration.org or through facebook or twitter.
Bay Area Reporter: Lesbian couple credited with federal law leaves US
Published November 06, 2009 @ 11:00AM PT
Bay Area Reporter's Matthew Bajko spoke with Judy Rickard & Karin Bogliolo as they were in transit in Denver en route to leave the country to live in Exile. You can read the entire article here.
Everyday we hear stories of same sex binational couples being faced with the choice of choosing between love and country, being forced to leave the country to live in exile because their options have run out. The Uniting American Families Act as well as a INCLUSIVE comprehensive immigration reform bill will change that injustice. It will allow LGBT Americans to sponsor their partner for a green card.
Can you help us get more support for this issue?
Go to our action page and take part in our letter writing campaign.
If you want to do more, here are some other ways you could help us get more co-sponsors:
(1) Write your own letter and share your personal story about why this bill and issue is important for you and/or your family member;
(2) Creat a booklet telling your story. See http://tinyurl.com/o4i-toolkit1 for more info on this option.
(3) Send the action page link to your families and friends and get them to send letters too… it is just a simple click of the button and it is easy.
Out4Immigration is an all grassroots organization and you can find more information about us at http://www.out4immigration.org or through facebook or twitter.
Maine Marriage Setback a Call to Action for Federal LGBT Rights
Published November 05, 2009 @ 12:40PM PT
Subjecting Minority Rights to Majority Vote Repeatedly Denies Equality to LGBT Families
San Francisco, CA - November 4, 2009 - The State of Maine's rejection of marriage equality at the ballot box yesterday is being heeded as a call for federal LGBT rights by activists and organizations around the US, including Out4Immigration.
The Maine vote was 53% in support of taking away civil marriage rights granted to gays and lesbians by approval of the state legislature and signed into law by the state's governor 6 months ago. 47% of voters supported marriage equality.
"Subjecting minority rights to majority vote repeatedly denies equality to LGBT families," said Mickey Lim, vice president and co-founder of Out4Immigration, a grassroots organization that works closely with same-sex marriage groups for recognition of same-sex binational couple rights tied to federal immigration policies.
Out4Immigation advocates for same-sex binational couples, relationships in which one partner is American and the other from another country and supports the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA).
Discriminatory US immigration policies refuse to recognize same-sex binational couples for immigration purposes because the US prohibits the recognition of same-sex marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships. Due to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), even same-sex marriages performed in other countries where they are legally recognized are invalid at the federal level.
"Federal marriage protections for opposite-sex couples provide these couples with 1,138 rights that are denied to gay and lesbian couples, regardless of state marriage, civil union or domestic partner laws," said Lim. "It's why it is imperative that our federal government steps up and stops the chaos and confusion of ballot initiatives that continue to deny and strip away civil rights from people."
Results in a Washington state election that would keep a domestic partnership law on the books, referred to as "everything but marriage" were still too close to call. In Kalamazoo, Michigan, Ordinance 1856, which added protections for LGBT people to a nondiscrimination law, was approved by 65% of voters.
(Forward this press release to your networks. Click here for the Out4Immigration website version.)
HIV Travel and Immigration Ban officially GONE
Published October 31, 2009 @ 10:25AM PT
President Obama yesterday signed to renew the Ryan White Care Act and officially announced that the order to remove HIV Travel and Immigration Ban from the Rules in HHS will be finalized on Monday. After a 60 days waiting period, the orders will be effective.
It is important to note that as of Sept 15th, USCIS has issued a memo directing its officers to stop denying green card/visa application from people who are HIV+ pending a ruling from the HHS.
All in all, this is VERY good news! The HIV ban was feared based and signed into law 20 years ago. Currently countries that still ban HIV+ people from entering the country are: Armenia, Brunei, Iraq, Libya, Moldova, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Sudan
You can read about this on:
Obama lifts ban on US entry for those with HIV - Washington Post
Obama lifts HIV travel ban for visitors to U.S. - SFGate.com
You can read the transcript of President Obama's speech on Towleroad.com. (or view it on Youtube)
Update on 11/1/2009: Immigration Equality has put out a simple FAQ about this repeal and how it might affect your case. You can read it here.
This week's action
Published October 27, 2009 @ 02:34PM PT
In the 35th week of Out4Immigration's letter writing campaign, we will be using the action page of our blog to get more people to send letters to the "target" representatives of the week.
This week, we will be sending letters to Congressman Rob Andrews (D-NJ-1), Congressman Joe Baca (D-CA-43), Congresswoman Corinne Brown (D-FL-3), Congressman Charles Gonzalez (D-TX-20) & Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA-47) to urge them to sign on to the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA).
To participate, all you need to do is click on the link on the right side of this page or click on the link here.
If you want to do more, here are some other ways you could help us get more co-sponsors:
(1) Write your own letter and share your personal story about why this bill and issue is important for you and/or your family member;
(2) Creat a booklet telling your story. See http://tinyurl.com/o4i-toolkit1 for more info on this option.
(3) Send the action page link to your families and friends and get them to send letters too… it is just a simple click of the button and it is easy.
Out4Immigration is an all grassroots organization and you can find more information about us at http://www.out4immigration.org or through facebook or twitter.
There will be some new content on this blog in the coming weeks - please stay tune!
