LGBT GROUPS FIGHT FOR IMMIGRATION BENEFITS INCLUSION

April 1, 2013

By Don Tagala, ABS-CBN North America Bureau

NEW YORK – The most popular undocumented immigrant in the United States believes that the inclusion of members of the LGBT community is crucial for any immigration reform bill to be considered fair.

“I’m all for an immigration bill that doesn’t exclude anyone, including same-sex couples,” said Jose Antonio Vargaz, a Pulitizer prize winning journalist who openly admitted that he was brought to the United States illegally and that he is gay.

In Chicago, a Filipino man is turning into a woman.

Mark Ilada is undergoing a gender reassignment procedure to fulfill his dream of becoming a woman named “Dahlia Jane Dee.”

Ilada lives and works in the US on an H1-B temporary work visa and is in a relationship with a man for more than 4 years.

He says that even if they get married, the current immigration system does not provide same sex couples and transgendered women like “her” the ability to change their status via a spouse’s immigrant petition.

Ilada may soon be legally a woman after the sex-change operation but gender-reassignment is also not recognized by immigration.

“I want everybody to have equal rights, whether you’re a boy or girl, straight, gay, lesbian, transgendered, bisexual, whatever you are, you should have the right, you are a living person and that love knows no gender.,” Ilada said.

“Marriage for everyone is inevitable, equality is inevitable, this idea that my equality is tied to your equality,” said Vargas, “and I bet you if we have immigration reform, if we have a bill that leaves out the LGBT community the first people who will go against it are Dreamers, undocumented youth of all sexual orientation.”

But immigration attorney, Rio Guerrero believes that the Obama administration made a tactical move not to include discussions about adjustments of status thru same-sex marriage in the immigration reform proposals.

“I think they’re right to do that, I don’t believe the Republicans would ever agree to that and the Obama administration understands that if DOMA falls, then they don’t have to legislate anything, they simply have to wait for the existing law to fall and allow same-sex marriage to exist in the federal level,” he said.

Meantime, Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a member of the gang of 8 issued a statement saying it’s premature to say that a deal has been made.

While New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer acknowledged that a few issues remained to be settled, he and others don’t expect there to be problems.

Deal or no deal Vargas and the LGBT community have one thing in mind – the US needs an immigration system that works for everyone, including the LGBT community.