Secure Gay Rights Before Extending Rights of the Undocumented
New America Media, Commentary, Jasmyne Cannick, Posted: Apr 04, 2006
Editor's Note: When American citizens, particularly lesbians and gays, haven't received their full civil rights, why is Congress considering extending more rights to illegal immigrants? Jasmyne Cannick is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists. She can be reached via her Web site, www.jasmynecannick.com.
LOS ANGELES--Immigration reform is an important issue, but it's not the next civil rights movement. We haven't even finished with our current civil rights movement.
Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts got it right when he said, "There is no moving to the front of the line."
Immigration reform needs to get in line behind the gay civil rights movement. Discrimination and unequal treatment of gay Americans has not yet been resolved.
I recognize the plight of illegal immigrants. However, I didn't break the law to come into this country. The country has broken its own laws by not recognizing and bestowing upon me my full rights as a citizen. I find it hard as a black lesbian to jump on the immigration reform bandwagon when my own bandwagon hasn't even left the barn.
Legal American citizens continue to be denied the right to marry because of their sexual orientation, while their families are deprived of access to the more than 1,138 federal rights, protections and responsibilities automatically granted to married heterosexual couples.
If we're going to hold 24-hour Senate sessions using taxpayer dollars, let those sessions be used to come up with a comprehensive plan that allows America's same-gender loving stakeholders to have the opportunity to have the right to make decisions on a partner's behalf in a medical emergency, or the right to receive family-related Social Security benefits.
But immigration reform dominates in Washington. President Bush wants a comprehensive guest worker program for undocumented laborers.
With all due respect, Mr. President, there should be no guest worker program until we ensure that all lesbian and gay American citizens have the right to take up to 12 weeks of leave to care for a seriously ill partner or parent of a partner, and the right to purchase continued health coverage for a domestic partner after the loss of a job.
Both Sen. Kennedy and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas backed away from requiring that guest workers leave the United States after their initial two-year visa expired. The congressmen wanted to keep immigrant families from being separated.
Well, what about making sure that the children of same-sex couples are protected and not separated from the parent they know and love in the event of an untimely death? Same-sex couples make commitments and form families just like heterosexual couples, and they need the same protections.
Lesbians and gays are not second-class citizens. Our issues should not get bumped to the back of the line in favor of extending rights to people who have entered this country illegally.
Author and poet Audre Lorde once said, "I have come to believe over and over again, that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood."
While I know no one wants to be viewed as a racist when it comes to immigration reform, as a lesbian I don't want to move to the back of the bus to accommodate those who broke the law to be here. Immigrants aren't the only ones who want a shot at the American dream.
A Different View
PROMINENT GAY AND LESBIAN GROUPS SUPPORT FAIR AND HUMANE IMMIGRATION POLICY
The following statement was adopted by the undersigned LGBT and allied organizations:
Like most American communities, the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community is a diverse community, made richer and stronger by the admixture of genders, races, nationalities, gender expressions, faiths, ages, and political ideologies.
We are Latinos, Asian Americans and Pacific-Islanders, African-Americans, Native Americans, and Anglos; youth, middle-aged, and seniors; parents, couples and singles; Christians, Jews, Muslims and agnostics; liberals, moderates and conservatives; men, women, transgendered, and are richer, smarter and stronger because of the contribution of each. And, like all communities we struggle within that complex tapestry to continue to acknowledge and respect each other in our larger struggle toward dignity and equality for all.
Sadly, we have recently witnessed yet another disheartening, divisive battle in our seemingly endless "culture wars". Once again some of our countries' most vulnerable have become a convenient political
scapegoat and target for those seeking favor among the ultra-conservative right.
In California, as we prepared to celebrate the life, vision and leadership of Cesar Chavez, we were astonished to see some in the US House of Representatives endorse the most draconian political measures targeting the immigrant community in 80 years. Measures whose motives are not reform, safety or fairness, but instead proposals to make felons of hard-working immigrants who staff our factories and fields, who cook for us and care for our children, who seek enough resources to care for their parents and families. Proposals that seek to criminalize the churches and charities that reach out to help immigrants who are cold, hungry or suffering. Proposals that encourage racism, isolationism and the abandonment of our most fundamental American values: hope, fairness, humanity, equal treatment and mercy.
We all agree that our current immigration system needs reform and share the concerns about safety and security, but we believe reform can be accomplished best through the vision articulated by Cesar
Chavez.; a vision of a nation and a world where the values of liberty, dignity, fairness and justice occupy center stage. Where persecution, oppression and discrimination are not political tools that are proudly claimed, but instead, are moral wrongs to be made right.
We share that vision. And we will continue to struggle toward that time when the 12 million undocumented workers who contribute, who give their energy, their time, their faith and their resources to the rest of us, can be provided with a rational and humane immigration policy. We stand with our immigrant community in insisting that a policy that can provide all of us with safety and that can offer a fair, realistic opportunity for citizenship is possible. We also hope that any immigration reform that is achieved protects the civil rights and civil liberties of all immigrants and offers due process protections, so that all Americans benefit from our core democratic principles of fairness and equality.
We continue to believe in the vision of Chavez, in the hope offered by Martin Luther King, and in the dream that is American democracy: a nation in which all people and all immigrants— regardless of national origin, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, or immigration status—can live with safety, dignity, and fairness.
Dale Kelly Bankhead, Equality for All
Heather Carrigan, ACLU of Southern California
Oscar De La O, Bienestar
Rabbi Denise Eger, California Faith for Equality
Maya Harris, ACLU of Northern California
Delores Jacobs, The San Diego LGBT Community Center
Lorri L. Jean, The Los Angles Gay and Lesbian Center
Kate Kendell, The National Center for Lesbian Rights
Geoff Kors, Equality California
Laurie McBride, National Stonewall Democrats
Corri Planck, Family Pride
Francine Ramsey, Zuna Institute
Rev. Neil Thomas, California Faith for Equality
Samuel Thoron, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and
Gays (PFLAG)
Karin Wang, Asian American/Pacific Islander (API) Equality – Los Angeles
Andy Shie Kee Wong, Asian Equality
Luna Yasui, CAA | Chinese for Affirmative Action/Center for Asian
American Advocacy
Thalia Zepatos, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
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User Comments
sherri and pam on Apr 14, 2006 at 02:27:19 said:
i would just like to say that my partner and i were both born and raised here. i think the best way to support everyone's rights is for everyone to work together and become as one body. if we start trying to bump each other's "whose first list" we will never gain the support we all need to have and are entitled to from the people that can make a difference. so let's not start by pointing finger's, let's get started by holding hands.
John Kawakami on Apr 09, 2006 at 18:01:18 said:
When I was living in SF, I was taught that the city, and America in general, was a kind of "land of freedom" for gay people escaping oppression in their home country. That was a real eye-opener. In fact, it made me "see" that, indeed, there are entire communities of gay expatriates in America, living here, in all likelihood, illegally, as refugees from homophobia in other countries.
Indeed, at the big march in Los Angeles, there were many flags, mostly American, but also many from Latin America, and a few of them were rainbow flags. I fully support them -- gay and undocumented is as "illegal" as you can get. Their existence is civil disobedience.
Joseph Hill on Apr 09, 2006 at 00:24:31 said:
We should oppose discrimination wherever we find it...and that includes those people who rank the struggles of others as less worthy than their own. I know we've all grown up in a culture that requires us to compete with each other for what we are told are "sparse" resources; but as long as we keep trying to get the upper hand against each other, our common exploiters will take advantage of our angers/fears/prejudices.
Let's cut out the mean spiritedness we were taught to prepare us for the "war of all against all". Let's respect each other a little bit more and remember that, just as an injury to one is an injury to all, a victory for one is a victory for all. Don't succumb to the temptation to succeed at the expense of others...and don't trivialize or marginalize their issues.
I think it was John D. Rockefeller who once boasted that he "...could hire half the working class to kill the other half." We play right into the hands of our common enemy as long as we allow such thinking to prevail.
Lawrence Jurrist on Apr 06, 2006 at 11:18:03 said:
This column makes absolutely no sense. I hate this "either-or" mentality. Can't we support gay rights AND immigrant rights? Do we really have to choose? Silly, very silly.
Colin Robinson on Apr 06, 2006 at 08:34:41 said:
"The master's tools will not dismantle the master's house." Sistergirl: You fierce on a good day; but today you just stupid. Aren't those precisely the same arguments that straight African Americans use to cheapen LGBT demands, to relegate LGBT equality to a place in the civil rights line behind race equality, or to denigrate our struggle because our behavior is illegal or immoral? You've just made them for them.
Sonia on Apr 05, 2006 at 19:24:14 said:
i disagree with this piece. while i am a full supporter of gay rights and of immigrant rights, it's not fair to prioritize one over the other. movements for equality should never take place within a set time period and should always be a continuous effort, and this means that there will be some overlap with the timing. comparing immigrant rights and gay rights is like comparing apples and oranges.
Daniel Morales on Apr 05, 2006 at 12:30:53 said:
Jasmyne,
Discrimination and unequal treatment of many groups have not being resolved. Your notion of getting on the back of the line didn’t work for Rosa Parks and it shouldn’t work for anyone else. Inequality exists and it must be resolved at all fronts concurrently.
You claim to recognize the plight of illegal immigrants but, do you really? The decision to leave one’s homeland is never about wanting to break the law, it is about survival, about fulfilling the essential necessities in life. On top of the economical needs, many LGBT people, me included, have fled our home countries because of intolerance, hate and physical violence as a result of being different. I know many gay men who have left loved ones, careers and their pride to find a place where those wonderful antiretroviral are available to keep them alive and here, they live in the shadows; unable to contribute fully to society, unable to go back to their home countries, just remaining alive. With all due respect, Jasmyne, you don’t know our plight.
You state that lesbians and gays are not second-class citizens. That’s great. Many same sex households have at least one partner unauthorized to be in this country. What about them? What about their rights? What about the same sex households where both partners are unauthorized and they are raising children? What about their rights? I pose to you your own questions: “what about making sure that the children of same-sex couples are protected and not separated from the parent they know and love in the event of an untimely death? Same-sex couples make commitments and form families just like heterosexual couples, and they need the same protections.”
When it comes to strategy, we (LGBT people) have a better chance of succeeding by recognizing that equality for all means exactly that. Besides, our little 10% has to convince a lot of people (including immigrants) that we deserve equal rights.
I could throw in a couple of quotes from Audry Lorde or many other poets but poetry won’t help you solve the dilemma posed at the end of your opinion piece: “no one wants to be viewed as a racist…” Worried about being viewed as such? shouldn’t the worry be being one?
Alejandro on Apr 05, 2006 at 12:07:55 said:
"Their is no liberation, without community."
Audre Lorde
My community is of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Immigrants. The work of same sex marriage and ending HR 4437 represent the liberation for those whom i care most deeply about. DOMA, the defense of Marriage act, hit immigrants first in 1997, which should have been a WARNING for us foreign born same sex couples. Under CLINTON ADMINISTRATION, DOMA shaped immigration policy to limit marriage between a man and a woman in 1997 for immigrants. Jasmyne your 6 years late on jumping on the Same sex marriage band wagon. Where were you then fighting DOMA for immigrants?
You are right on time to model a liberated community where LGBT immigrants can stay and share their life with who they love. Please take time to reflect on your community of liberation, and the words of AUDRE LORDE, a bahamian immigrant.
Aaron Ashcraft on Apr 05, 2006 at 00:17:33 said:
Immigration Law is splitting me up from my partner!
Tomas is from Spain. We have been together for 5 years while he was a computer science student. After graduation, he was unable to find a company who would sponsor him for a temporary work permit.
Immigration code allows only spouses or blood relatives to sponsor an immigrant for a permanent visa. Catch 22: we can't get married; catch 23: he has no blood relatives in the U.S. Catch 24: domestic partners cannot be sponsors!
Since I can't sponsor him, he now must return to Spain so he can launch his career---ALL BECAUSE GAYS HAVE NO RIGHTS IN AMERICA. Immigration is breaking up a perfectly legitimate domestic partnership - a very personal tragedy for us. Tomas leaves permanently for Spain on April 25, 2006. We are devastated!
L.L.Slatbarn on Apr 04, 2006 at 15:07:06 said:
I think you are absolutely right on. The issue of illegal workers taking predence over the civil right's issue that the GLBT community is facing is just wrong. But, the president and all of washington, want to forget that we exist-that is why they are pushing this immigation program- just to push us further back in the minds of the average American.
Jeff Hobbs on Apr 04, 2006 at 11:54:56 said:
Once again Jasmyne swings and hits it out of the ball park. What a great commentary. I support you wholeheartedly. You are the one to make a world of change!:)
Jen Petzen on Apr 04, 2006 at 11:32:59 said:
I was disappointed to read Jasmyne Cannick's comments, which advocate a hierarchy of oppression and privilege to address that oppression. Worse, she quotes Audre Lorde to support her comments. I do not think Audre Lorde would support this ranking of oppressions. We need to join forces in anti-oppression coalitions and work against racism, xenophobia, and homophobia. And re-read Audre Lorde, less we have bruised or misunderstood her message.
Manger on Apr 04, 2006 at 09:39:57 said:
This is just why African-American males are shooting and seemigly unstable, today. Black women are such hmoSINsualistic (gay) companions, they care about gay rights before those of the Godly--Men "Of Color."
-->Who has a greater tie to Christ Jesus than A-A men (Melanin wise), and "undocumented immigrants (fleeing peasants)? Surely not "abominationitsts (gays)?"
Heresy-sexuals (gays) have made a choice of what to engage in, but I will give them this, adult pedophiles and preverts are brainwashing our young through library books, principals, political officials, media and TV, alike.
Unconventionals (gays) try to uprgade their lifestyles by downgrading others--Blackmens' in particular. Subsequently, they deserve to be pushed back further and further down the chain of respectability. Crucifying your brother for your own benefit is an abomination.