The Stories Of Shirley Tan and oter families
Eliminate Immigration Barriers for Same-Sex Couples
The Assembly Judiciary Committee will be hearing testimony on AJR 15, a California resolution to support the federal Uniting American Families Act (UAFA).
The resolution, introduced by Assembly Member Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) and co-sponsored by Equality California (EQCA) and Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality (AACRE), formally requests that the US Congress pass and President Barack Obama sign the UAFA. Under current federal law, American citizens are permitted to sponsor an opposite-sex (Uniting American families Act spouse applying for legal residency. The UAFA would extend this basic right to committed same-sex couples, who are currently prohibited from sponsoring their partners.
The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA, H.R. 1024, S. 424) 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 and to penalize immigration fraud in connection with permanent partnerships.
Why this resolution is important for California, says Amos Lim founding Board member of Out4 Immigration, “It is important to get CA on record as supporting the passage of Uniting American Families Act because our state has the highest number of same sex binational couples living here. According to the studies conducted by Williams Institute, there are about 30% or 10,000 binational couples living here and our representative needs to take a stand for equality and pass this important bill.”
On-site interviews will be available : Providing testimony :
Melanie Nathan, of Marin County and a Commissioner on the Marin County Human Rights Commission who could not Petition for Israeli partner for residency in the U.S.nterviews [email protected]
Gina Caprio cannot Petition for British partner for residency in the U.S
Alice Kessler, Government Affairs Director, Equality California
Santosh Seeram-Santana, Legislative Advocate, Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
Amos Lim, Founding Board Member and Treasurer, Out4Immigration
When: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 9:00 AM Where: State Capitol, Room 4202
Equality California (EQCA) is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender-rights advocacy organization in California. In the past decade, EQCA has strategically moved California from a state with extremely limited legal protections for LGBT individuals to a state with some of the most comprehensive civil-rights protections in the nation. EQCA has passed over 50 pieces of legislation and continues to advance equality through legislative advocacy, public education and community empowerment. www.eqca.org
Melanie Nathan, is known for her international human rights advocacy for LGBTQI asylum seekers, Uganda Kill the Gays Bill, Corrective Rape issue in South Africa, and equality activism in the USA; especially on the issue of bi-national same-sex couples struggle for green cards in the USA. Please feel free to Contact her if you have Tips, a story to tell - at 
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