Shirley Tan, a California mom who was nearly deported in April because her same-sex partner could not legally sponsor her for citizenship, has been invited to testify by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) hearings starting June 3. If passed, UAFA would extend same-sex couples the same immigration rights enjoyed by married couples, creating a legal path to citizenship.
Tan’s partner Jay Mercado and their twin sons will make the trip to Washington with their lawyer Melanie Nathan. From Nathan’s blog:
When I spoke to Jay today, she said that the family is very honored and extremely excited to go to DC for this historic hearing. They are looking forward to a visit to their representatives offices, Rep Jackie Speier and Senator Feinstein, especially to thank all the staffers who worked so hard to help them.
Shirley ’s ultimate ability to stay in the USA will depend on passage of the Uniting of American Families Act. Shirley and Jay’s trip to DC will be sponsored by Immigration Equality, who were great to work with when negotiating the details of the family’s participation. Shirley and the family have stated that they will do everything they can to assist in getting UAFA passed.
Nathan will have extensive coverage the hearings on her blog as will we at inlookout.com. There will also be a live webcast of the hearings starting at 10am EST on June 3.
For background on their story, please watch the video below which aired just prior to Tan’s stay of deportation:
May 28th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I applaud the people behind this bill for moving forward with giving families with international partners the same right to stay with their family legally.
I am also happy that the Tan family is being given this opportunity to speak about how the passage of this bill will help and protect their family from threats of deportation.
From one Filipino to another, your family is deserves to be happy as one unit and I wish them you all the best.
May 31st, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Thanks for that comment Chadsf; I will say that one of the most heart warming consequences to come out of this case is the outpouring of unconditional love and support from the Felipino Community in San Mateo County and around the country. In their support it was apparant that they put the idea of family above anything else and the fact that the Tan-Mercado family is a same gender (two mom) family did not get in the way of the acknowledgment that family should be allowed to stay together. The Felipino community clearly gets it. I wish I could say the same for the rest of America. Although Shirley and Jay clearly are now spokespeople for Gay Immigration rights, they axcknowledge the importance of family reunification for everyone. THanks to everyone for their cntinued support. Melanie Nathan