Time to end gay deportations
Posted on Sunday, May 08, 2011 at 10:17 AM
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But as more and more people are agreeing, it's reprehensible to be this willfully and needlessly cruel, because it serves no good purpose, at all, and it only breaks hearts.
On Friday Attorney General Eric Holder asked the Board of Immigration Appeals to set aside their ruling deporting Irishman Paul Wilson Dorman back to Ireland under because the Defense of Marriage Act is being challenged in court and may ultimately be set aside.
That's potentially good news for Dorman, but - other than by implication - it does little to protect the rights of other gay Irishmen and women in bi-national marriages or civil unions facing similar threats. And, let's be clear, there are thousands of them.
Reaction from conservative blogs, who monitor advances in gay rights as though their lives depended on it, was swift. In the comments section of the news story on FoxNews.com the following reaction was one representative post:
Commentator 'Ecarr' wrote: "So, Holder is not only not going to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, he's now actively seeking marital status on behalf of this fudge packer? What the HELL has this country gotten itself into with this administration?"
Well, since he asks, the administration is defending the equality of all Americans from the tyranny of heartless bigots who would remove the rights of all the people they dislike.
When they are posting anonymously, many conservative commentators feel free to express themselves in unvarnished ways that meek it clear what's in their hearts: anti-gay prejudice.
In February Attorney General Eric Holder sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, after determining that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, "as applied to same-sex couples who are legally married under state law, violates the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment."
Holder wrote, "the President and I have concluded that classifications based on sexual orientation warrant heightened scrutiny and that, as applied to same-sex couples legally married under state law, Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional."
The implications of those sentiments is clear enough. There'll be no help from the GOP controlled Congress. So the challenge for Obama is, in the words of Spike Lee, to do the right thing. The executive branch can and should act.
So far the administration's movements in this area have been case by case, and frequently insultingly incoherent. There is no need for this. Longstanding gay couples who are in civil unions or marriages should qualify for immigration purposes in exactly the same way as heterosexuals. It is past time for the administration to say so.
Your basic rights should not be upheld or dismissed at the whim of of a low level government functionary forced to make a choice the administration refuses to.
We already know, because they baldly stated, that DOMA discriminates and violates the equal protection rights of gay couples. At what point will the administration act and follow the implications of their own findings?
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Wingeire1 | May 11, 2011, 09:12 AM EDT
IS this kind of language necessary??
Commentator 'Ecarr' wrote: "So, Holder is not only not going to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, he's now actively seeking marital status on behalf of this fudge packer? What the HELL has this country gotten itself into with this administration?"
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hollabackgurl | May 10, 2011, 09:44 PM EDT
According to figures supplied by The Human Rights Campaign,
approximately 36,000 homosexual Americans are involved in bi-national
relationships. Speaking in favor of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA),
Representative Jerry Nadler said: Today thousands of committed same-sex couples are needlessly suffering because of unequal treatment under our immigration laws, and this is an outrage. Our Constitution guarantees that no class of people will be singled out for differential treatment — and LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender] Americans should not and must not be excluded from that guarantee.
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olovely | May 10, 2011, 11:50 AM EDT
You have a reductive understanding of biological diversity, mrkennedy. If God created Humans why didn't He just create them and not dinosaurs, apes, shellfish, molluscs and sea horses, say? Religious people are so whacky.
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mrkennedy | May 10, 2011, 11:43 AM EDT
Olovely, you have a wierd interpretation of creation. God created the first couple who were therefore married in his plan. If God created gay people then why didn't he just creat one sex and not two?
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olovely | May 10, 2011, 11:01 AM EDT
God did not invent marriage. Nowhere in the Bible does it claim He did. How many gay people will God have to create for you to understand He's just fine with it?
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mrkennedy | May 10, 2011, 10:10 AM EDT
I wonder what God The Father thought when he created "ADAM & EVE" and not Julius & Robert or JANE & LOIS?" Did he not think that the future world would be different? After all he was only the CREATER OR THE UNIVERSE AND HUMANKIND!!
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HoundofUlster | May 10, 2011, 09:38 AM EDT
Great article. It is way beyond time to end this type of discrimination. As the Irish father(naturalized US citizen) of a gay man who fears for his life periodically due to the abuse heaped on bay & lesbian US citizens & LPRs etc.I support the reversal of DOMA.
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Chiefjustice | May 10, 2011, 09:09 AM EDT
My Irish grand father earned the right to call himself American By serveing in the U.S. Army for five years. 1883 to 1888... And friends thats the way it should be...
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eiriamach | May 10, 2011, 05:03 AM EDT
Olovely has listed important rights that US law currently withholds from gays and lesbians. Read the list. If you're inclined to just rant against same-sex marriage, please stop and think and deal with the injustice of depriving some American citizens of fundamental rights that others take for granted. It's wrong; it's simply wrong to deprive any of us of these basic rights, and we all know that. It makes no sense to say that some of us are "more equal" than others; either we have equal rights and equal protection of the law, or we have inequality with the tyranny of some over others. If you want inequality, please tell us how you think you can justify it and why you think we would still be Americans if we continued to be unequal.
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rpmschevy | May 10, 2011, 01:13 AM EDT
Well well well hollagurl is back and she still has not been able to defend my other post. Please why do these people get EXTRA equality as compared to me and my family Olovely and gurl? Why should they not be deported for doing something ILLEGAL? Or is that a word you have no definition of? If so, please post your address so I can come steal your possessions to reimburse myself the thousands of dollars I have had to pay the Federal Government to get my wife and daughter here.
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rpmschevy | May 10, 2011, 01:06 AM EDT
Are you a journalist? Where are your facts about "And, let's be clear, there are thousands of them"? Truly thousands upon thousands of Irish with sexual preference homosexuality?
Just once I would like you all to in the same breath talk about following the rule of law, and that is if you are here illegally, you are REQUIRED to go home and then FILE for a visa and greencard. Tell me not a journalist Cahir, where is my justice for being separated from my wife and daughter because I went the legal and PROPER and MORAL method to have them come to the USA, and these criminals (lawbreakers thus criminals) should not have to follow the LAW?
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olovely | May 09, 2011, 02:55 PM EDT
Have you opened a newspaper since 1948, GeorgeDillion? Same-sex couples are denied the right to marry, denied access to the more than 1,138 federal rights, protections and responsibilities automatically granted to married heterosexual couples. Among those are: -The right to make decisions on a partner's behalf in a medical emergency. Specifically, the states generally provide that spouses automatically assume this right in an emergency. If an individual is unmarried, the legal "next of kin" automatically assumes this right. This means, for example, that a gay man with a life partner of many years may be forced to accept the financial and medical decisions of a sibling or parent with whom he may have a distant or even hostile relationship.
-The right to take up to 12 weeks of leave from work to care for a seriously ill partner or parent of a partner. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 permits individuals to take such leave to care for ill spouses, children and parents but not a partner or a partner's parents. -The right to petition for same-sex partners to immigrate. -The right to assume parenting rights and responsibilities when children are brought into a family through birth, adoption, surrogacy or other means. For example, in most states, there is no law providing a noncustodial, nonbiological or nonadoptive parent's right to visit a child - or responsibility to provide financial support for that child - in the event of a breakup. -The right to share equitably all jointly held property and debt in the event of a breakup, since there are no laws that cover the dissolution of domestic partnerships. -Family-related Social security benefits, income and estate tax benefits, disability benefits, family-related military and veterans benefits and other important benefits. -The right to inherit property from a partner in the absence of a will. -The right to purchase continued health coverage for a domestic partner after the loss of a job.
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Gaelicpiper | May 09, 2011, 02:39 PM EDT
O'loverly--you are obvioulsy emotionally involved in this issue. The problem, in this case, is that being gay does not entitle one to a get out of jail free card or a free pass to the movies. Gays are not more equal- they are just equal-- try reading the Constitution and the several Civil Rights Acts. The claim of right you claim will not be sustained by the Court. In your response, you attempted to cast an insult- that post only exposed your emotional baggage and immaturity as applied to the problem and the law.
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simplesandy | May 09, 2011, 02:19 PM EDT
well I am more confused now than I ever was ..
I am an American living here in Ireland for last 6 years.My b/f is irish. We cant get married because of divorce reasons ..I won't get my alimony..and even if I did marry him he still cannot come into the USA because they just are not letting anyone in..so if this man is married to his partner he still has to go through the red tape to get into USA legally..am I wrong with this? I have been searching this and actually there is not much you can do to get into USA but get in line for your green card..that is unless Obama grants amnisty ..but we are still out because someone said you have to prove you lived together in USA for so many years ...how gross is that ...here we are in Ireland because my b/f respected the American laws and some Illegal will get in scott free because he did not..
If someone knows a loop hole I missed please let me know ..thank you simplesandy56@hotmail.com
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olovely | May 09, 2011, 02:12 PM EDT
Gaelicpiper, this may come as an enormous surprise to you, but since you express yourself precisely like a grade schooler, your observations will be treated with the same respect we pay to 10 year old political commentators.
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Gaelicpiper | May 09, 2011, 01:57 PM EDT
This move, by O'bumma and Holder, is just an election cycle gambit. The issue is illegality, not being gay. O'bumma, and his minion, know his chances for re-election are slim to none. He/They are pandering to every fringe group for votes-- it will not work.
This move is really and insult to those Irish who have this problem as O'bumma is putting the Irish in the same pot as illegal Mexicans. Today, O'bumma announce that he is, again, pushing for Immigration Reform-- for those of you that don't know- that means Amnesty, for millions of criminal Mexicans. The one thing that O'bumma must learn is-- "This is not his Country to give away to criminal aliens. If the immigration system is broken-- the Mexicans broke it-- why should the Irish suffer for that act.
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olovely | May 09, 2011, 12:55 PM EDT
You should watch the news sometime bo_leggs. In America, and most civilized countries, marriage is a civil contract between two people of the opposite or same sex. Leave your religion out of it. It's a legal arrangement that grants unique rights, that is all. How dare you tell gay people to essentially get lost? Who do you think you are? And what do you propose they do with their lives becuase you don't like them? You have some nerve talking like that.
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bo_leggs | May 09, 2011, 12:11 PM EDT
If a homosexual male or female is here illegally, he or she should be deported. This country was built on Judeo-Christian principles. Those principles should not be shoved aside for immorality. Marriage is and always has been for one man and one woman; and should not change. There are other things homosexuals can do. They do not need marriage because marriage is for complimentary individuals -- one man and one woman.
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PhlutiePhan | May 09, 2011, 11:47 AM EDT
I agree with a previous comment. If he is "illegal", then he is illegal regardless of orientation. There are plenty of immigrants who have been caught paying Americans to marry so that they can obtain citizenship. The law has been tightened but there are still instances.
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mayoman | May 09, 2011, 11:34 AM EDT
You're right again, Cahir. This issue is not so much one of immigration, as it is of equal rights. When the hypocritical and discriminatory DOMA is finally repealed cases such as this will be far easier to resolve, especially when gay marriage is universally accepted; as it should be. And eventually will be.
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olovely | May 09, 2011, 11:05 AM EDT
In this case the President could make things right by an executive order. People like to bash gays but they don't ultimately care enough about them whether they win rights or lose them. Obama could fix this discrimination without political fall out and its time he did. He should. Pressure should be applied on him until he does.
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olovely | May 09, 2011, 11:03 AM EDT
GeorgeDillion it's obvioius you're not a United States citzen, becuase if you were you would have heard of the Declaration of Independence and you would have understood its implications. If heterosexual married couples can adjust their visa status where one partner is American and one foreign born, then same-sex couples should be afforded the same rights, to the letter, because that is the American way. You're crazy for imagining that people should be denied equality simply becuase they were born homosexual instead of heterosexual. You must be nearly 90 and doting, you write like you are.
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GeorgeDillon | May 09, 2011, 10:42 AM EDT
stevemd2: Stop posturing as a Catholic. Your post reeks of anti-Catholicism. You're nothing but a worthless bigot.
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GeorgeDillon | May 09, 2011, 10:41 AM EDT
This columnist gets crazier every day. Now he wants homosexuality to be used as grounds for US residency. And how do you propose to prove I'm a homosexual, O'Doherty?
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sully1167 | May 09, 2011, 06:45 AM EDT
He should be deported for being illegal,not for being gay."Illegal" is Illegal,Race,Religion,Sex,Sexual Orientation,disability,is irrelevant.
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eiriamach | May 09, 2011, 02:38 AM EDT
Hollabackgurl, I'll agree with you that Obama should use executive order to do what he can for immigrant partners and others immediately threatened by DOMA. Unfortunately, however, the executive branch cannot nullify DOMA. The federal court system would need to declare it in whole or in part unconstitutional (that's not the AG's call because he works for the administration), or Congress would need to repeal it. Obama's in a difficult position because the courts are slow, Congress is crazy dysfunctional, and the president cannot just make things right by executive fiat.
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hollabackgurl | May 08, 2011, 11:36 PM EDT
Obama is not in a difficult position. It's quite clear that DOMA contradicts the equal protection clause and indeed the AG has said so. An executive order to halt the deportation of all bi-national married or civil unioned same-sex partners isn't a difficult decision to make or action to take: it's basic decency.
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eiriamach | May 08, 2011, 06:11 PM EDT
Obama is in a difficult position. The President has a constitutional duty to uphold the laws-- even the laws that he and his Attorney General believe are unconstitutional or just wrong. He must rely on the federal courts to do the legal work of dismantling DOMA, and there are several challenges to section 3 of DOMA in the courts now. He did as much as the executive branch usually can do when he refused to defend DOMA in the federal courts. And he went beyond duty when he/Holden asked the Immigration board not to deport Dorman. IF Obama behaved as though DOMA were not still the law, he'd instantly be called a tyrant. Hey, wait a minute, isn't that what some people are calling him now? But I agree with Cahir that progress on gay rights has been incredibly, painfully SLOW!
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SteveMD2 | May 08, 2011, 05:14 PM EDT
Yes but congratulations to the Irish on civil unions there. And I note that now about 70% of the Irish people support changing it to marriage for gay people.
could this also be a result of the catholic church - now known as the Godhead of Pedophilia. Which in Ireland, the christian brothers, a cath. organization ran orphanages and reform schools.
Boys were used as slave labor in cold factories, "a good daY was a day without a beating, and sexual abuse was rampart.
Ireland, so very catholic, can now lead the fight to destroy Benedicts church, and repelace it if you wish with one true to Jesus command to love thy neighbor as thyself.
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