| Family Research Council: Exile Queers from the US! |
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| Written by David L Wylie |
 The uber-homophobic and so-called ‘Christian’ organization Family Research Council believes that US citizens with homosexual leanings should be exiled from the country. “I would much prefer to export homosexuals from the United States than to import them into the United States because we believe homosexuality is destructive to society,” said Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council’s vice president of policy. Sprigg was discussing his group’s opposition to the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA). The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA, H.R. 2221, S. 1328) is a U.S. bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate discrimination in the immigration laws by permitting permanent partners of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents to obtain lawful permanent resident status in the same manner as spouses of citizens and lawful permanent residents. Immigration Equality Executive Director Rachel B. Tiven doesn’t think the Family Research Council’s views are that uncommon. “Unfortunately, the Family Research Council’s preference to export lesbian gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans prevails,” she wrote in a press release responding to Sprigg’s comments. “This policy continues to separate people who love each other, but of course Mr. Sprigg’s group doesn’t care about that,” she observed. U.S. immigration is filled with obstacles for many who seek to enter. Any bi-national family may encounter injustices and bureaucratic barriers on the road to reunification. A flawed and irrational system demands overhaul. But a lesbian or gay couple cannot even claim basic rights. Their relationship is irrelevant for purposes of entering the United States. Instead, they face a long limbo of legal indifference, harassment, and fear. Couples face abuse by immigration officials, and even deportation. They experience a devastating impact not only on their partnerships but on their careers, homes, children, livelihoods, and lives. Family reunification is an express and central goal of U.S. immigration policy, and has been for more than fifty years. Immigration law puts priority on allowing citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their spouses and relatives for entry into the U.S. A commission appointed by Congress to study immigration policies in 1981 concluded: Reunification of families serves the national interest not only through the humaneness of the policy itself, but also through the promotion of the public order and well-being of the nation. Psychologically and socially, the reunion of family members … promotes the health and welfare of the United States. Freedom from discrimination is a human right. The hardship, harassment, and pain that same-sex bi-national couples endure in confronting and trying to conform to U.S. law show the discriminatory consequences of denying a class of people the recognition their relationships need and deserve. Gaysofla.com encourages readers to email or call your US Senator or Representative and voice your support for UAFA. |
