David (US) and Jason (UK) met in an Los Angeles restaurant in May 2007, and married in New York City in September 2012. As American, David is granted the right to obtain a greencard for his foreign born spouse... unless he is gay.
The reason is the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which denies a long list of federal important protections and responsibilities to same-sex couples, including Social Security survivor benefits, family and medical leave, and immigration rights. DOMA denies millions of gay Americans over 1,100 rights.
Even though David and Jason's marriage is legal in New York, it's not recognized federally and is not enough to keep them together in U.S. Jason isn't welcome to the U.S as a husband, and has only ever been allowed to visit them for a maximum 90 days as a tourist. Over the past six years, DOMA has separated Jason and David 17 times.
Since 1996, gay Americans with foreign partners have been forced to choose between love or country.
Waiting the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the constitutionality of DOMA by the end of June, David and Jason have filmed a short video telling their story and urging the Court to strike down DOMA, which has prevented them and all same-sex bi-national couples from being together permanently.
This video has been posted on YouTube to The Doma Project.
BY G MANN:
ReplyDeleteWHAT HAPPENED TO THE 14TH AMENDMENT WHERE ALL WERE SUPPOSED TO BE TREATED EQUAL???
By Adám Vincent:
ReplyDeleteWhat ... good?
I would love an update on these guys now that DOMA has been struck down!!!
ReplyDelete