Gay marriage - Same-sex marriage debated in Hawaii and across the United States and what it means to binational same-sex couples

Gay marriage news are currently debated in Hawaii and the rest of the United States, mainly because California is now allowing it, the second state in the United States after Massachusetts. However, for same-sex binational couples the issue is much broader because none of these same-sex marriages are recognized by the federal government. This fact may be inconvenient or disappointing for gay and lesbian couples who are both U.S. citizens or permanent residents. But for binational same-sex couples it is devastating because a foreign partner can’t be sponsored for permanent residency in the U.S.

While a U.S. citizen or permanent resident can sponsor an opposite-sex partner from another country, this right is denied to binational same-sex couples. There are many U.S. citizens who were quite literally forced into exile, to leave the U.S. permanently, because the U.S. doesn’t allow them to live together with the person they love. So they chose their partner over their country.

The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), a bill still pending before Congress, seeks to fulfill the pledge of family unification under current U.S. immigration policy by adding the term “permanent partner” where the word “spouse” currently appears in the Immigration and Nationality Act. This would allow gay and lesbian citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their partner for immigration benefits without challenging the Defense of Marriage Act.

Currently more than 20 countries allow same-sex marriages or civil unions with immigration benefits, such as Canada, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Sweden and New Zealand, for example. How long will the United States continue to deny U.S. citizens this basic civil right? A country, that has the statement “liberty and justice for all” engrained in its constitution.