DOMA Immigrant Challengers Get Temporary Respite

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

WASHINGTON -- As long as the Defense of Marriage Act is in effect, same-sex binational couples won't be able to petition for the foreign-born partner to receive legal status. In the meantime, though, a group pushing the Obama administration to delay decisions on green card applications won a small victory last week when a judge ordered a stay on its lawsuit against the government.

The judge’s decision, which was issued Wednesday and reported to the plaintiffs Friday, does not mean the couples will be granted visas or green cards, but it does mean they will be unlikely to face separation as the stay is pending and other DOMA suits are considered.

The case is part of a broader push for equal immigration rights for same-sex couples. Immigration Equality renewed its call for reform in a letter sent Friday to President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. In the letter, which was provided to The Huffington Post, the group points out that a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act will end up at the Supreme Court.

"We are writing now because the circumstances surrounding DOMA have changed considerably since we first raised this issue a year ago," Executive Director Rachel Tiven and Legal Director Victoria Neilson wrote. "We believe that you should therefore reconsider your prior decision not to hold green cards in abeyance."

"We ... are asking that the status quo be broadly maintained -- that the green cards for all lesbian and gay immigrant families be neither approved nor denied until there is a final resolution of the constitutionality of DOMA," they wrote.

[...some of the couples have visas, such as employment or tourist visas, but not green cards....the stay of the lawsuit means they are unlikely to be separated while the case is pending.]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/30/doma-immigrant-gay-couples_n_1720084.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

This has momentum, and may not wait for the election to be decided.

Edited August 2, 2012 by The Patriot

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

DOMA is dead and same sex marriage will be recognized across the nation. That's how it's gonna be.

And that's why God is sending Ernesto our way.

Edited August 2, 2012 by Mr. Big Dog

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Hmmm...Ernesto seems to be avoiding all the gay areas and heading straight for Cancun.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Hmmm...Ernesto seems to be avoiding all the gay areas and heading straight for Cancun.

God is gonna turn it north once it hits the Gulf. He's not gonna sit by idle while his will is ignored in this land. You just watch. Or maybe this one is Mexico's for allowing same sex marriage in Mexico City.