Keep pushing for gay protections in immigration reform, Dems

[ProSense]

The Morning Plum: Keep pushing for gay protections in immigration reform, Dems

Posted by Greg Sargent

So will immigration reform end up including protections for legally married gay and lesbian couples? Late yesterday, Senator Patrick Leahy — the chairman of the Judiciary Committee — made a move that shoved this question into the spotlight in a way that will have very interesting ramifications for the immigration debate and could pose a real challenge for Republicans.

As Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner reports, Leahy submitted two amendments to the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill that would extend protections to gay and lesbian couples:

Among Leahy’s amendments is one that would include the Uniting American Families Act — a bill that would create a new category of “permanent partners” to enable a U.S. citizen in a same-sex couple to sponsor a foreign partner — in the larger immigration reform legislation. This amendment had been discussed and was expected to be filed.

A second amendment, according to a news release from Leahy’s office, “provides equal protection to lawfully married bi-national same sex couples that other spouses receive under existing immigration law.” The provision asserts that a person would be considered a married spouse under the Immigration and Nationality Act if the marriage “is valid in the state in which the marriage was entered into” or, if “entered into outside of any state,” was valid where entered into.

This last move is very clever, because it throws the “federalist” argument back at conservatives. As one gay rights advocate tells Geidner, “this is basically meant to ferret out the Republicans” who “believe in a federalism concept.”

This may complicate the immigration debate considerably, but the complications may prove to be positive. Marco Rubio continues to reiterate that if any gay rights protections pass committee and end up in the bill, immigration reform is doomed, because the fragile coalition behind it will fall apart. Conservatives continue to insist that the bill must move further to the right. And including one of the provisions may give some Republicans a way to back out of supporting reform.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/05/08/the-morning-plum-keep-pushing-for-gay-protections-in-immigration-reform-dems/

LGBT Advocates Welcome President Obama’s Proposal for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/01/31/lgbt-advocates-welcome-president-obama-s-proposal-comprehensive-immigration-reform-0

[ProSense]

1. Kick for

not waiting until the bill passes to complain.

[treestar]

2. That's an important factor

If straight married couples can have their spouses legally in the US then gays should and regardless of whether the state allows gay marriage or not.

That's interesting. Of course the Rs will use it to hang the bill up.