Immigrants who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and/or queer and questioning experience issues of immigration in multiple, disparate ways. What does it mean for our movements to voice the struggles of this community?
by Dennis Chin, guest blogger
I’m inspired by the story of Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado. Shirley and Jay are a queer bi-national couple who have built a life together in the past 23 years. Shirley, originally from the Philippines, had applied for asylum in the states in 1995 for personal safety reasons but was denied without her knowledge. Years passed and in 2009, ICE agents were at her door. Shirley was detained, ripped from Jay and her family and threatened with deportation.
Typically, federally-recognized marriages would allow bi-national couples to stay together in the States. But because Jay does not identify as a man, Jay does not have this option, as most straight bi-national couples do.
And since the fight for federal recognition of same-sex marriages has yet to gain traction, queer bi-national couples and their advocates have had to find a way to address the immediate needs of their families.
And they have.
Shirley, Jay and thousands of other queer bi-national couples are now fighting to pass the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA). Introduced by Rep. Jerrod Nadler (D-NY), UAFA would add the term “permanent partner” to those sections of the Immigration and Naturalization Act that apply to legally married couples. Under UAFA, a “permanent partner” is an adult who is in a committed, intimate relationship with another adult in “which both parties intend a lifelong commitment.” This legislation would afford equal immigration benefits to “permanent partnerships” as exist right now for married straight people.
UAFA has considerable legislative support. In fact, UAFA has more co-sponsors in the House than any other piece of immigration legislation. And groups like Immigration Equality have been actively working to pass UAFA with other groups like National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, a project of the Center for Community Change, endorsing this legislation.
Keeping all families together is a central pillar of any type of immigration reform and it’s heartening to see UAFA receive institutional support from two sides of the issue.
But let’s not forget that even within the issue of queer immigration, the separation of families and couples is by no means the only way in which immigration impacts all queer people. Most queer immigrants, particularly queer immigrants of color, face an oppressive, enforcement-only immigration system that simply doesn’t have the infrastructure in place to address homophobia and specific issues of gender identity and health that are particular to queer communities. Issues of documentation, detention and asylum surface issues of dignity and safety for all queer folks, particularly those who identify as transgender. Everyday they must navigate this system or face being deported back to a country in which their personal safety is at a high risk.
While UAFA should receive our support, we mustn’t forget these experiences as well.
So consider this a challenge for both immigration reform and queer activists to recognize and lift up the full spectrum of experiences of transgender, bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer and questioning immigrants as potential organizers, leaders and spokespeople for our movements and use these experiences to create points of solidarity to win policy that benefits all of us.
Queer immigrants should not have to remain in the closet. (Nor should we out them for the sake of our movements) Rather, it’s our duty to create safe spaces alongside queer immigrants in all of our movements so that everyone can bring their full selves to the table.
Let’s have a conversation about how this happens.
Oh, and PS — shout-out to the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance for holding a series of forums across the country that explore the intersections of race, sexuality and migration in immigration reform. Much love to my community.
Dennis Chin currently works at the Center for Community Change. He is also an active member of CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, Queers for Economic Justice and the Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of NY.
Image: sfgate.com
