Love will keep us together

But the Uniting American Families Act won't hurt.

It's a bill that was re-introduced on Tuesday. It has been introduced several times (previously also under the name Permanent Partners Immigration Act). Each time, the list of Congressional supporters grows. Seems like only a matter of time.

UAFA would extend to same-sex couples the same immigration rights currently afforded only to opposite-sex couples.

Historically. the U.S. government has committed to the position that family unity is a worthwhile policy objective for immigration law and that forced separation of family members may be a hardship. Congress has eliminated numerical restrictions upon immediate family members of U.S. citizens to immigrate to the United States. The disparity between same-sex and opposite-sex couples then is an undue hardship imposed not only on foreign national partners, but on American citizens and permanent residents.

UAFA holds Congress and the U.S. government to its commitment that immigration law should keep families together.

Although a growing number of countries are recognizing the importance of allowing same-sex partners equal immigration benefits, many couples are unable to live together because neither of them lives in a country that provides such recognition. The U.S. needs to get off that latter list, and on to the former.