Class Action Suit Challenging DOMA Filed by Immigrant from Phillippines and Her Wife
The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Jane DeLeon and her wife Irma Rodriguez seeking to halt deportation proceedings against DeLeon and challenging DOMA. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Los Angeles.
Writes The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law:
Irma and Jane met in 1992. They have resided together in a committed life-long relationship for 20 years. In 2008, they were lawfully married in California.
According to the lawsuit Jane DeLeon, an immigrant from the Philippines, has been residing with her US citizen partner in California for twenty years and they were married in 2008. The lawsuit claims that DeLeon has been approved for an immigrant visa based on her employment. However, because she entered the country in 1989 using the name of her then common-law husband, to get lawful resident status she needs a “waiver” from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (“CIS”). Such waivers are commonly available to immigrants whose deportation would cause extreme hardship to a US citizen spouse. In DeLeon’s case the waiver was denied in September 2011 solely because she is married to another woman.
DeLeon and her son Martin had temporary lawful status for several years while their visa applications were being processed. When the government denied her waiver application, she was advised that her temporary lawful status was revoked and if she did not depart the country within 12 months she would be barred from reentry for a minimum of ten years.
The proposed class action lawsuit alleges that § 3 of the DOMA, as applied to deny same-sex bi-national couples immigration benefits routinely granted different-sex couples, denies due process and equal protection of the law in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Read the complaint HERE.
"Her wife" and "his husband" are really jarring to the ear. Everyone is entitled to the words they want to designate their relationship, but it would be nice for gay people to have a sort of common usage term that signifies it is a same sex marriage. Partner is too business-like, and like "Lover," it doesn't carry the connotation of being wed. I really think gay people in wedded relationships could use the word "spouse," and start to claim it as our own.
Posted by: candideinnc | Jul 13, 2012 10:30:07 AM
i see no problem with using the terms wife and husband. in a marriage a female is a wife and a male is a husband. what's wrong with that? me and my eventual spouse will be husband and husband. why seek to further create politically correct termonolgy that is unnecessary and confusing? i don't see a point in choosing new terminology to keep highlighting the fact we are not straight.
Posted by: DRG | Jul 13, 2012 11:02:51 AM
candideinnc can't stomach equality, so i'm assuming that poster is trolling, or tone deaf.
this lawsuit is mission critical to LGBT legal equality. immigration rights for our same sex spouses is the frontline of the fight for equal legal standing.
Posted by: yonkersconquers | Jul 13, 2012 11:10:58 AM
Yonkers can't stomach civil conversations and resorts to name calling, so I am assuming he is a sallow adolescent.
Posted by: candideinnc | Jul 13, 2012 11:31:13 AM
Candideinnc, there is absolutely no way in which 'her wife' is less acceptable or normal than 'his wife'. Some wives have a wife; some wives have a husband. Get over it. There is no reason to have separate terms for same sex marriages than for different sex marriages and there is absolutely no reason to every use a gender-neutral term. A married man is a husband. A married woman is a wife.
Posted by: DB | Jul 13, 2012 11:38:39 AM
Candideinnc, if you are not trolling then you are tone deaf. If someone is calling you tone deaf that isn't name calling. Defend yourself. I hate people who play the victim.
Posted by: Solomon | Jul 13, 2012 12:00:36 PM
Candideinnc, if you are not trolling then you are tone deaf. If someone is calling you tone deaf that isn't name calling. Defend yourself. I hate people who play the victim.
Posted by: Solomon | Jul 13, 2012 12:00:38 PM
Solomon--the name calling I referred to was trolling, not tone deaf. Since you ask me to "defend" myself, which as a gay man on a gay friendly web site, I feel shouldn't be necessary, I nonetheless will.
The problem I have with "his husband" and "her wife" is that in our culture these words, husband and wife have acquired many layers of connotations. Most specifically, they carry the burden of suggesting roles in the relationship. "Husband" in our society has traditionally connoted the role of breadwinner, protector, the agressive, stronger member. Connotations for the word "Wife" are that of the supportive figure, submissive partner, nurturer, housekeeper. I am not saying this is good or bad. I am not saying that the connotations are accurate or not. I am simply wsaying that if you take even the most cursory look at sociological data, you will see that these are, in fact, the connotations associated with the terms.
That is what I find "jarring" about the terms. That is why I personally think it would be helpful to turn away from words that carry the baggage of aeons of baggage. If you disagree, fine. You are entitled to an opinion, as I am.
Posted by: candideinnc | Jul 13, 2012 12:56:01 PM
By the way, Solomon, thanks for telling me about people you hate. I don't really give a f*ck...but thanks for sharing.
Posted by: candideinnc | Jul 13, 2012 2:21:38 PM
Even if you feel those connotations are in place, you have to agree that they're not universally held, even by heterosexuals. I mean unless you're Republican or a religious fundamentalist, they're pretty much considered outdated.
I think with the fight for marriage equality, it doesn't make sense to seek separate terms for homosexual couples, b/c it conflicts with the idea that marriage rights should be universal rights: 'Give us the same rights, but we'll call ourselves something else'. Sure there are people who think that it's "cute" when Ellen calls Portia her wife on her show, like it's some sort of gimmick, but I think enough exposure will desensitize people to the idea.
Give it time. Hell, I'm still kind of surprised when I see an interracial couple on TV, just b/c it's so uncommon on television and it's 2012.
Posted by: Hugh | Jul 13, 2012 2:27:05 PM
Hugh--Perhaps it is that novelty that you are talking about that bothers me. Good point. I don't think our relationships should be deemed cute or an imitation of the real thing. They are not. They are genuine. I have been in a committed relationship for 22 years, and cannot abide the sniggering of small minded people whose lives revolve around the misconception that they are better than others.
Posted by: candideinnc | Jul 13, 2012 5:11:11 PM
It truly is time that equality should be recognized everywhere in this nation! There are so many benefits that straight couples take for granted. DOMA is seriously hurting my family because my wife has been denied health benefits under my family health plan. Please take a look and sign my petition at:
http://www.change.org/petitions/shirley-patterson-federal-employee-insurance-operations-grant-all-legally-married-federal-employees-equal-benefits?share_id=aijrmwNxUZ
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Posted by: adam | Jul 26, 2012 9:28:53 PM