Out4Immigration is an all-volunteer grassroots organization. Currently, Americans in same-gender relationships with foreign partners have no right to sponsor those partners for legal residency in the US. In this letter campaign we write representatives in Congress and the Senate to ask them to support equal immigration rights for same-sex binational couples, to become a cosponsor of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), and to support Comprehensive Immigration Reform which is inclusive of LGBT families.This is the 82nd petition of Out4Immigration’s letter writing campaign. As with last week’s petition, we are reaching out to all of our supporters from this Congress. This petition serves not only as a thank you to the members of Congress who have supported the UAFA and are leaving Congress due to the results of the election, or because of retirement; it is also to encourage those returning supporters of the 111th Congress to continue demonstrating leadership on this issue in the impending 112th. We intend to promote the below petition throughout the duration of the lame duck session, targeting the maximum number of legislators we can reach in one week, 20. This includes 3 Senators and 17 Representatives, and we will target a new such group each week.
It is remarkable that in the 111th Congress we were able to encourage over a quarter of our national elected representatives in Washington to cosponsor the UAFA. Many of these members have been real champions for equality, and we want to applaud their leadership. It is also worth noting that of the Democratic losses in Congress in this recent election, relatively few UAFA supporters were among them. In the coming weeks, we will be reminding returning members of Congress, as well as new ones, that many Americans yearn to see equality for all, that supporting our families not only makes good political sense but is the right thing to do, and to ask them to cosponsor this bill.
We encourage you to take part in this campaign by using one of four options:
(1) The easiest one. By clicking through and adding your name to this page, you will send letters to all of the lawmakers being targeted in this petition. You can also provide the link to your friends and family to take action too!;
(2) Contact any or all of the elected representatives here with your own letter, your own story; or
(3) Creating a booklet telling your story. See http://tinyurl.com/o4i-toolkit1 for more info on this option.
(4) Check out other actions on our action page and sign the other week's action too to urge the other members of Congress to sponsor and support the passage of Uniting American Families Act, or visit Out4immigration's website, O4I's Facebook page or the O4I blog. If you use Twitter, you can also follow O4I that way.
Additionally, don’t hesitate to call our recent cosponsors and thank them for their support. Let’s hit our target of 500 signers with this petition. Can each of you who sign get a few of your friends to do so as well? Please share this widely, and thank you for taking action!!!
Petition Text-
Thank you for supporting the Uniting American Families Act
Greetings to our House and Senate supporters,
As the 111th session of Congress comes to a close, we would like to thank you for your support of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA; H.R.1024; S.424).
As you know, under current U.S. immigration law, gay and lesbian Americans in committed relationships with foreign partners are denied the right to sponsor their partners for a green card. This terrible oversight that has led to thousands of heartbreaking cases of gratuitous cruelty in forcing same-sex binational couples apart could be fixed with the passage of UAFA. UAFA would add three simple words to existing U.S. immigration law “or permanent partners” wherever the word “spouse” appears. It would then give the same rights and responsibilities to same-sex binational couples that opposite-sex binational couples can currently obtain.
We urge you, our supporters, to do what you can in the lame duck session of Congress to either move UAFA forward as a standalone bill, or ensure that it remains included in any version of Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR). Our families are grateful to you for your support to date, and are depending on your support now and in the future.
Whether you are returning to Congress in its 112th session next year or leaving at the close of this
session, we hope that you will continue to support equal rights for LGBT Americans and continue to
champion the end of immigration discrimination against same-sex binational couples.
Sincerely,
The members and supporters of Out4Immigration
As you know, under current U.S. immigration law, gay and lesbian Americans in committed relationships with foreign partners are denied the right to sponsor their partners for a green card. This terrible oversight that has led to thousands of heartbreaking cases of gratuitous cruelty in forcing same-sex binational couples apart could be fixed with the passage of UAFA. UAFA would add three simple words to existing U.S. immigration law “or permanent partners” wherever the word “spouse” appears. It would then give the same rights and responsibilities to same-sex binational couples that opposite-sex binational couples can currently obtain.
We urge you, our supporters, to do what you can in the lame duck session of Congress to either move UAFA forward as a standalone bill, or ensure that it remains included in any version of Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR). Our families are grateful to you for your support to date, and are depending on your support now and in the future.
Whether you are returning to Congress in its 112th session next year or leaving at the close of this
session, we hope that you will continue to support equal rights for LGBT Americans and continue to
champion the end of immigration discrimination against same-sex binational couples.
Sincerely,
The members and supporters of Out4Immigration
[Your name]
-end-
Dear Congresspersons,
ReplyDeletei am not not GLBT, HOWEVER i need the UAFA because i am an American citizen by birth married to a Mexican citizen who was given a 10 year barr from the United States.
His crime was simply 2 entries without permission, if he had 1 entry, he would have been aloud to stay! CRAZY huh?
I am disabled and we have two small children together.
We can no longer go to mexico to see him because of the violence there.
My husband is in danger just walking the streets!
He has NO criminal record.
If CIR (or) UAFA is done then they will waive the 10 year barrs for those that qualify!
I CANNOT BELIEVE that he has been out of the country for 7 years now, we can wait no longer!!!
He is missing all these years with his babies that can NEVER be replaced.
Please help us bring daddy back!
Thank you,
Wendy.