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News & ArtsTuesday, October 27, 2009
Homo Fierce Advocacy Watch
Posted by Dan Savage on Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 7:19 AM
NYT:
The Massachusetts husband of a gay Brazilian man said his spouse had been denied asylum that would allow them to be reunited in the United States. The husband, Tim Coco, said the Obama administration did not act on a Friday deadline in the case of Genesio Oliveira, effectively denying his request. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to messages. In March, Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, asked Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to grant Mr. Oliveira asylum on humanitarian grounds.
Says Aravosis:
In violation of US law, the Obama administration has decided to stay the deportation of heterosexual foreign-born nationals married to Americans who have since deceased, reportedly in order to curry favor with the Latino community. But when a gay foreign-born national, married legally in Massachusetts to an American, who has been raped in his home country, seeks to stay in the US the Obama administration deports him.
Maybe someone could ask the president about this tomorrow when he signs the Hate Crimes bill into law at a ceremony at the White House.
1
I don't understand this. I don't understand what the hell is going on with him. My only conclusion is that he's a bigot. And I don't want to think that. But it's the only conclusion I can draw.
2
DOMA does not allow the Federal Government to recognize same-sex marriage. He has asked Congress to repeal this, but in the mean time he's not willing to exceed the authority of his office, division of powers and all...
Why aren't we getting on our Senators and Congressmen to do something, the ball is in their court!
Why aren't we getting on our Senators and Congressmen to do something, the ball is in their court!
3
Epic fail Savage. Maybe the stay on deportations of heterosexual foreign-born nationals married to Americans who have since deceased, has been due to the existence of children, who after loosing one parent would have to relocate to a completely foreign culture and that would end up causing more unnecessary trauma to a child. I would say that ninety-five percent of the time that's not the case when it comes to partnerships between homosexuals, and in this current time where terrorism abounds we need to be very careful of whom we let stay here.
5
Yeah, fucking terrorist gays. I swear, I saw one with a Glitter bomb the other day. (In my pants.)
7
Far more than epic fail, 3.
Let's assume you're a black woman and marry a black man from Africa. Then you adopt kids who are US citizens, and your husband is deported, leaving you with three kids and no husband around.
Sound fair? By your logic it is.
"I would say that ninety-five percent of the time that's not the case when it comes to partnerships between homosexuals, and in this current time where terrorism abounds we need to be very careful of whom we let stay here."
That 95% is admittedly, on your part, pulled out of your butt. And how many news stories have you seen about gay terrorists?
Really...get over your fear and grow up at least a little. Jesus hates you when you're stupid.
Let's assume you're a black woman and marry a black man from Africa. Then you adopt kids who are US citizens, and your husband is deported, leaving you with three kids and no husband around.
Sound fair? By your logic it is.
"I would say that ninety-five percent of the time that's not the case when it comes to partnerships between homosexuals, and in this current time where terrorism abounds we need to be very careful of whom we let stay here."
That 95% is admittedly, on your part, pulled out of your butt. And how many news stories have you seen about gay terrorists?
Really...get over your fear and grow up at least a little. Jesus hates you when you're stupid.
8
Um, Loveschild...How many terrorists come from Brazil? Do you ever have a coherent thought in that little head of yours? You make Slog so entertaining with your insane babble. Never stop.
9
Shame on you, Loveschild. There are legally married same-sex couples with children in which one parent is being deported. You'd have families torn apart, and children suffer, for your own bigoted comfort level and try to argue it's about national safety.
You're the poster child for lack of compassion and lack of justice. In direct opposition of the faith your blather on about. We are all so proud.
You're the poster child for lack of compassion and lack of justice. In direct opposition of the faith your blather on about. We are all so proud.
11
I am going to pull a number out of my butt and say that 0% of the terrorist are openly gay - ZIP, ZERO, NADA. In fact, for the security of our nation we should be opening the doors and importing as many openly gay men and women as possible as the odds of them secretly being fundamental-extremists who want to blow us up is like - NONE!
12
You've got to give Loveschild credit, despite her every argument being shown to be complete and utter nonsense, dear little Loveschild keeps coming back, bless her little cotton socks.
13
Distorting what people say again. You know that's not what i meant, what i meant was that in a time where terrorist have shown no scruples in order to inflict harm on others as in this story:
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…
Then what is to say that they wouldn't abuse any special concessions made to gay lobby groups, like allowing any two men who say that they are in a gay relationship to stay here. It has already been done in cases of asylum and it has proven to be a very poor decision made by the state department. We cannot take those types of risks withing our borders because they're just too great.
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…
Then what is to say that they wouldn't abuse any special concessions made to gay lobby groups, like allowing any two men who say that they are in a gay relationship to stay here. It has already been done in cases of asylum and it has proven to be a very poor decision made by the state department. We cannot take those types of risks withing our borders because they're just too great.
14
@13 Oh, I guess like those Russian immigrants who were using asylum by claiming homosexuality. Then they start beating on the gays once their settled in their new homes.
Let's just round up all the Russians as national security threats and lock them far way from civilization.
Because giving up our civil liberties is always justified if it gives one iota of a feeling of irrational security.
Let's just round up all the Russians as national security threats and lock them far way from civilization.
Because giving up our civil liberties is always justified if it gives one iota of a feeling of irrational security.
15
Loveschild is right! You cannot extend to teh gays the rights straights have! The are reasons!
/beingacompletedouchebag
/beingacompletedouchebag
17
Epic fail @ 13, Loveschild.
You can't cover your tracks. A militant muslim terrorist with a bomb in his arse, isn't the same as separating a legally married couple because your squicked out about marriage equality.
Of course, with your apparent lack of reading comprehension and bigotry, you hear the word arse and assume gay. You really should stop with the assumptions, there is a word within the word that you seem predisposed to label yourself with.
You can't cover your tracks. A militant muslim terrorist with a bomb in his arse, isn't the same as separating a legally married couple because your squicked out about marriage equality.
Of course, with your apparent lack of reading comprehension and bigotry, you hear the word arse and assume gay. You really should stop with the assumptions, there is a word within the word that you seem predisposed to label yourself with.
18
"Distorting what people say again. You know that's not what i meant, what i meant was that in a time where terrorist have shown no scruples..."
Sweetheart, stuffing a bomb up your butt doesn't make you gay any more than calling yourself a christian makes you a pony.
Sweetheart, stuffing a bomb up your butt doesn't make you gay any more than calling yourself a christian makes you a pony.
19
This story is so sad and colossally unfair. I swore I wouldn't say 'I told you so,' but the worse this president gets, the harder it gets for me to keep my mouth shut. I argued at a Capitol Hill caucus that Obama was a homophobe and misogynist, and was berated, screamed at, and called a dozen names by about 80 Obama supporters. So now we'll never know if Hillary could have done a better job, but Jesus Christ, gay people and women: The writing was on the wall before he took office! He doesn't support women and gays: Expect worse and worser. I seriously want this guy to succeed but like I said 2 years ago, he's an inexperienced, charming nobody that will never get things done in DC.
There. I got it off my chest.
There. I got it off my chest.
20
@19 - all Obama is doing is asking his office to follow existing law. Law that he is openly saying is wrong, and has asked Congress to overturn. Unlike our last President, he doesn't believe that he can ignore law, or use signing statements, or have his Attorney Generals write memos that change the meaning of the laws. Again, give Obama a break and call your Senator to have them introduce legislation to repeal DOMA.
21
@20 From the post:
"In violation of US law, the Obama administration has decided to stay the deportation of heterosexual foreign-born nationals married to Americans who have since deceased, reportedly in order to curry favor with the Latino community. But when a gay foreign-born national, married legally in Massachusetts to an American, who has been raped in his home country, seeks to stay in the US the Obama administration deports him."
"In violation of US law, the Obama administration has decided to stay the deportation of heterosexual foreign-born nationals married to Americans who have since deceased, reportedly in order to curry favor with the Latino community. But when a gay foreign-born national, married legally in Massachusetts to an American, who has been raped in his home country, seeks to stay in the US the Obama administration deports him."
22
Man, it's a good thing Obama wasn't elected in 1960...he'd be going out of his way to defend all those laws that were created to keep people like him from voting.
He would have to do it, because that's the law!
What a pickle!
He would have to do it, because that's the law!
What a pickle!
23
Wow, you are all right! My bad - Obama should universally overturn DOMA cause that will make you happy and it's the right thing to do. Too bad the Dems would lose both the Senate and the House in 2010.....oh well, worth it.
25
Obama is weak and easily manipulated. Someone needs to get his wife's ear and SHE will push him to do what's right for gays. We need to push Michelle since Barack isn't strong enough to stand behind the words he spoke so eloquently a year ago.
26
There are a lot of Republicans who did not lose their seats in the midterm elections simply because they support Bush. If the Representatives in the House and Senators are doing a good job, they'll likely keep it, regardless of whether or not they support Obama.
The reason they lost control of the House and Senate was because people were tired of the economy getting worse and worse, and when the economy tanks, generally the controlling party (Democrat or Republican) will lose control of the House and Senate, not because they supported (or didn't) the current president.
The reason they lost control of the House and Senate was because people were tired of the economy getting worse and worse, and when the economy tanks, generally the controlling party (Democrat or Republican) will lose control of the House and Senate, not because they supported (or didn't) the current president.
27
Obama is a a homophobic liar, plain and simple. You can praise and make excuses for a turd, but that turd will remain a turd. Barack Obama is a lying turd.
29
People are just going to have to keep suing until eventually we can get a case to the US Supreme Court to have them declare all these anti-gay laws unconstitutional. Women didn't rely on the President to grant them suffrage, blacks didn't rely on the President to end discriminatory laws, we can't either. All these things happened through acts of Congress and the US Supreme Court. Aside from issuing executive orders (which he should do to stop homos from being required to leave the military because someone found out and outed them to TPTB), the only power he has is whether or not to sign something into law. We need to push our Representatives and Senators to do right by homos, their families, and their supporters. Discrimination against the gays affects more than just the homos and their boyfriends / girlfriends. It hurts us as your friends, families and supporters, too.
30
Obama is a: homophobe, turd, liar, weak, easily manipulated, and weak. Stop the hate Loveschild! -- oh wait, that wasn't Loveschild?? Meh.
31
There's no explanation for why this man deserves asylum. Does Brazil hate homos in any significant way? No? Then why the fuck does this guy get asylum when many others who deserve it more are regularly denied it?
32
Um, sorry, but the guy was looking to be granted asylum...from *Brazil*? On *humanitarian* grounds?? Er, we're not exactly talking about war-torn Afghanistan here. And by the way, there are *a ton* of Brazilians looking to get thru the gates to live in the U.S. going for any loophole they can. I want to know the full story on this situation - visa situation, etc. before I make a judgement.
You people just eat up the little sound bytes without a thought, don't you? Guess it's nice and easy for you that way.
You people just eat up the little sound bytes without a thought, don't you? Guess it's nice and easy for you that way.
33
@31
Well thank god *someone's* finally thinking! Pathetic it took 30 comments to get there though. Jesus.
Well thank god *someone's* finally thinking! Pathetic it took 30 comments to get there though. Jesus.
34
31, 32, 33 have it. Aravosis is a well-meaning, but hyperbolic hothead. It's awful that gay MA marriages have no federal (immigration) rights yet, but if we're going to grant asylum to gays, which we should, we need to really start with gays from Iraq and Iran first, Jamaica, most of Africa, the rest of the Middle East, and of course the Baltic states.
Gay go TO Brazil, for heavens sake. Why on Earth was this single case so high-profile anyway?
Gay go TO Brazil, for heavens sake. Why on Earth was this single case so high-profile anyway?
35
oh, silly silly gays.....really.
What - did you think your relationships matter?
Please, let me get back to dealing with my ex-wife. The second one. My revolving door traditional relationships are very time consuming.
What - did you think your relationships matter?
Please, let me get back to dealing with my ex-wife. The second one. My revolving door traditional relationships are very time consuming.
37
@3: "...in this current time where terrorism abounds we need to be very careful of whom we let stay here"
Like, say, religious fanatics?
Like yourself?
BTW, LC, you're loosing your ability to not use lose syntax. ;)
Like, say, religious fanatics?
Like yourself?
BTW, LC, you're loosing your ability to not use lose syntax. ;)
38
The hyperbole on this blog is fucking ridiculous. You're such a drama queen Dan. Oh boo fucking hoo, you're not getting exactly what you want in the first year. Cry me a fucking river you naive twit.
40
Fixing the situation for one couple is important for that couple. OK, also for their friends, and "symbolically" for a lot of other people.
But (partly to play devil's advocate) so long as people who have friends and connections and a congressman willing to intercede on their behalf get strings pulled, there's actually LESS pressure to change the entire unfair situation.
My heart goes out to the deportee and his husband--I've been living 800 miles from my husband for a couple of years, and it's no fun, and it would be much, much worse if we didn't even have a choice in the matter. But strategically, if this means more pressure on Obama and congress to move some sort of partnership legislation forward, or actually, y'know, FIX the immigration laws, instead of just bending them? That would be good. Because there are a lot of other couples who would be able to stay together.
Maybe I'm a bit hard-hearted/strategically minded in this case because...
a) if you're a gay man somewhere other than Canada, the US or northern Europe, Brazil actually has a very active and supportive gay community, and a number of legal rights, including a 2006 decision by the Superior Court of Justice that same-sex couples are de facto partners--and "partners" do have legal status under the laws of Brazil. (google {gay rights Brazil} if you don't believe me). There are many places in Brazil where one may be ostracized or even attacked for being gay, but that's also true of the US.
b) Rape is grounds for asylum only under certain conditions, not in and of itself. Gay men have no doubt been raped in all 50 US states, but that doesn't mean other countries are obliged to consider that grounds for asylum.
c) A ticket to Brazil isn't that expensive. Tourist visas are easy to get. Temporary residence visas are more complex, but really, not so hard to get. Mr. Coco will be 50 in less than two years, if he's 48 now. He can then he can get a permanent resident retirement visa, so long as he transfers at least $2,000 a month into Brazil. Or he can invest $50,000 as a one-time deal, and also get permanent immigrant status (I'm not saying this is cheap, but it's less money that a fancy car). So while they should have the right to be together in the US without Mr. Coco having to sacrifice his house, job, friends, etc...it's not like the deportation actually prevents them from, y'know, being together as a couple. Any more than, say, job requirements or need for health care stops a lot of US couples from being together 365 days a year. Morally, the situation is a travesty. But in practical terms, life sucks for these two men in the same way it sucks for a lot of people who don't have oodles of money--maybe even for some of the people reading this blog.
More...
But (partly to play devil's advocate) so long as people who have friends and connections and a congressman willing to intercede on their behalf get strings pulled, there's actually LESS pressure to change the entire unfair situation.
My heart goes out to the deportee and his husband--I've been living 800 miles from my husband for a couple of years, and it's no fun, and it would be much, much worse if we didn't even have a choice in the matter. But strategically, if this means more pressure on Obama and congress to move some sort of partnership legislation forward, or actually, y'know, FIX the immigration laws, instead of just bending them? That would be good. Because there are a lot of other couples who would be able to stay together.
Maybe I'm a bit hard-hearted/strategically minded in this case because...
a) if you're a gay man somewhere other than Canada, the US or northern Europe, Brazil actually has a very active and supportive gay community, and a number of legal rights, including a 2006 decision by the Superior Court of Justice that same-sex couples are de facto partners--and "partners" do have legal status under the laws of Brazil. (google {gay rights Brazil} if you don't believe me). There are many places in Brazil where one may be ostracized or even attacked for being gay, but that's also true of the US.
b) Rape is grounds for asylum only under certain conditions, not in and of itself. Gay men have no doubt been raped in all 50 US states, but that doesn't mean other countries are obliged to consider that grounds for asylum.
c) A ticket to Brazil isn't that expensive. Tourist visas are easy to get. Temporary residence visas are more complex, but really, not so hard to get. Mr. Coco will be 50 in less than two years, if he's 48 now. He can then he can get a permanent resident retirement visa, so long as he transfers at least $2,000 a month into Brazil. Or he can invest $50,000 as a one-time deal, and also get permanent immigrant status (I'm not saying this is cheap, but it's less money that a fancy car). So while they should have the right to be together in the US without Mr. Coco having to sacrifice his house, job, friends, etc...it's not like the deportation actually prevents them from, y'know, being together as a couple. Any more than, say, job requirements or need for health care stops a lot of US couples from being together 365 days a year. Morally, the situation is a travesty. But in practical terms, life sucks for these two men in the same way it sucks for a lot of people who don't have oodles of money--maybe even for some of the people reading this blog.
41
Why does Aravosis run advertisement for the homophobic "Stand For Marriage Maine" on his website -- particularly an ad playing on the fear that homosexuals will target children for indoctrination?
http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/obama…
http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/obama…
42
Oh geez, have y'all not learned yet that you shouldn't be getting your legal analysis from John Aravosis? Congress just PASSED A LAW to end those deportations for hetero widow/ers -- Obama's staying the deportations in June was because he knew the new law would be in effect in 6 months and it would be silly to enforce the old one under those circumstances.
http://www.silive.com/northshore/index.s…
If Congress gets a bill in the pipeline that would have same-sex marriages recognized by the federal government in 6 months, I assure you that Obama would be staying those deportations as well.
The whole reason why the old law was seen as particularly cruel is that the people being deported were already being considered for immigration visas that, had the paperwork been processed before the spouse's death, would have entitled them to stay in the country. So far as I know, Americans cannot get immigration visas for their same-sex spouses because the executive branch, due to DOMA, cannot recognize those marriages in the first place. There's no paperwork in the pipeline at the time of the spouse's death.
Gah. If I were Georgetown Law, I'd be considering rescinding Aravosis's JD.
http://www.silive.com/northshore/index.s…
If Congress gets a bill in the pipeline that would have same-sex marriages recognized by the federal government in 6 months, I assure you that Obama would be staying those deportations as well.
The whole reason why the old law was seen as particularly cruel is that the people being deported were already being considered for immigration visas that, had the paperwork been processed before the spouse's death, would have entitled them to stay in the country. So far as I know, Americans cannot get immigration visas for their same-sex spouses because the executive branch, due to DOMA, cannot recognize those marriages in the first place. There's no paperwork in the pipeline at the time of the spouse's death.
Gah. If I were Georgetown Law, I'd be considering rescinding Aravosis's JD.
43
And in this weekend's New York Times Magazine - preview now available on the Times' website - we have an in-depth portrait of those adorable Obamas - such a perfect couple! So smart, so classy, so ... blah blah blah blah blah.
I'll start admiring them when their view of who's entitled to marry becomes a little less narrow.
I'll start admiring them when their view of who's entitled to marry becomes a little less narrow.
45
@43 must not have very good reading skills, since the entire article is about how the Obamas have struggled to maintain a good relationship, not about how perfect they are. Mrs. Obama specifically warns young people not to fantasize that marriage can be perfect.
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