FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FAMILY EQUALITY COUNCIL PRAISES OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND CONGRATULATES IMMIGRATION EQUALITY FOR HELPING TO PROTECT BI-NATIONAL FAMILIES
Washington DC – (Sep. 28, 2012) – Family Equality Council, the national organization that connects, supports and represents the one million parents in our country who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) and their two million children, today issued the following statement regarding a new written directive from the Department of Homeland Security that clarifies that family relationships be interpreted to include same-sex partners and spouses when applying immigration policies.
“This is incredible news for the 36,000 bi-national same-sex couples in the U.S. – nearly half of whom are raising children,” said Family Equality Council Executive Director Jennifer Chrisler. “Too often, our nation treats non-citizen same-sex partners and their spouses as legal strangers to one another. No parent in our country should be forced to make the heart-wrenching choice of whether to leave their spouse and children behind or whether to uproot their children from their schools, friends, community and extended families to settle in another country with more welcoming immigration laws. These new written guidelines will bring these families one step closer to being treated with the respect that all American families deserve. We thank President Obama‘s administration and offer congratulations to our friends at Immigration Equality for spearheading the community effort to get this done.“
CONTACT: Steve Majors | Communications Dir.202.664.0079│smajors@familyequality.org