Example #422369 why marriage is not just a private contract issue

[Martinus]

Gay couples forced to flee U.S. over immigration law
San Angelo mayor last month resigned his post and moved to Mexico to live legally with his partner.
By Michelle Roberts
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sunday, June 14, 2009

SAN ANGELO — The mayor of this West Texas sheep ranching town offered a stunning explanation when he suddenly resigned last month: He was in love with a man who was an illegal immigrant and had gone to Mexico.

They had to move, he said, because there was no legal way for them to remain together in the United States. Same-sex couples can't secure green cards for their partners like heterosexual spouses can.

"It wasn't a decision that any U.S. citizen should have to make," former Mayor J.W. Lown said from Mexico. "I left a home. I left a ranch. I left a promising political career."

His local prominence and his departure on the day he was supposed to be sworn in for a fourth term caused jaws to drop, but it also became a high-profile example of the thousands of Americans who face a similar choice — separate or move abroad .

About 36,000 Americans are in this situation, said U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., citing information from the advocacy group Immigration Equality.

Bills have been introduced in Congress to treat same-sex partners like heterosexual spouses for the purposes of immigration, but they are likely to face a strong fight, both from opponents of gay marriage and anti-immigration groups. The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act prevents immigration officials from recognizing same-sex marriages, even from states where they are now legal.

Proponents see the issue as a basic rights question, and Steve Ralls, a spokesman for Immigration Equality, said he thinks the best chance for the legislation is as part of a larger immigration bill.

But other immigration advocates want to keep the issues separate, fearful of bogging down an already tough fight. Kevin Appleby, migration policy director for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the push for same-sex partners in immigration is about getting recognition in federal law for gay marriage — which he opposes.

"It's an unholy marriage of the immigration debate and the same-sex marriage debate," he said. "It's very combustible."

Lown's decision last month brought the issue to an unlikely place, a town of 90,000 where ranchers and roughnecks from the vast open lands come to do their banking and send their kids to the regional state college. The town's only other recent brush with national fame came last year when it housed the hundreds of children taken from a polygamist sect's ranch in nearby Eldorado.

Before his May 19 resignation, Lown was considered a political rising star. The 32-year-old Republican, first elected at age 26, won his fourth term with about 89 percent of the vote.

During his tenure, Lown transformed the $600-a-year, part-time job from a mostly ceremonial position to a hands-on office. He actively appeared at thousands of community functions and went to Washington to lobby for the West Texas town — spending his own money after a few residents complained about taxpayers footing the bill.

"That's devotion and dedication," Councilwoman Charlotte Farmer said. "He would have gone far in the political arena in the state of Texas and perhaps farther."

Lown's sexuality never really became an issue. Some people didn't know he was gay. Lown's godfather, Mario Castillo, said most who knew didn't care.

"San Angelo has a live-and-let-live attitude. As long as you don't go around waving your boxer shorts in Sunday school, people leave it alone," said Castillo, a longtime resident who is now a Washington lobbyist.

But Lown, who worked as a real estate agent, said his prominence meant his 2-month-old relationship would be scrutinized and his 20-year-old partner might be subject to deportation.

"My heart was torn, and I had to make a decision," he said shortly after his resignation.

Lown has declined to identify his partner but said the man came across the Rio Grande as a teenager and attended high school and college in San Angelo. They went to Mexico — Lown won't say exactly where — so that his partner can apply for legal residency in the United States, generally a lengthy process for Mexicans without a spouse, child or parent who is a U.S. citizen.

"I did not want to consciously violate the law," Lown said. "We want to make a life together and do it in the right way and follow the law."

Lown, whose mother was Mexican, holds dual citizenship that allows him to live legally in Mexico, he said.

San Angelo, meanwhile, will be without a mayor until the City Council decides whether to appoint someone or schedule a special election.

Lown said he hopes to eventually return here with his partner.

"I don't know how long this is going to take. It could take months. It could take years, but I'm prepared to wait as long as it takes," he said. "I hope I'll have some shred of my good name left when this is resolved."

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/06/14/0614immigpartner.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=52

[Brazen]

Of course, if they weren't gay, it'd just be another "Mayor runs off with 20-year-old Mexican" story

[CountDeMoney]

 Example #422370 why Martinus is a boring one-note cockmuncher.

[Valmy]

Ah West Texas.

[Neil]

What an idiot.

At any rate, what's the big deal?  Do people really want more gays in the US?  If they can be encouraged to move somewhere else, so much the better.

[garbon]

Don't fall in love with illegal immigrants?

[ulmont]

Don't fall in love with illegal immigrants?

Yeah, that does seem to be the real issue here; even if the illegal was female, she'd never get a visa legally after that (fraud in coming to America once generally making you inadmissible).

[MadImmortalMan]

Easy. Stop making it possible to get a green card because you married a citizen. Or any other procedural or social benefit.

[The Brain]

I don't think anyone suggests that marriage is just a private contract issue in the US.

[citizen k]

This is an interesting story. San Angeloans have known he was gay and elected him four times. He was the youngest and one of the most effective mayors the city has ever had. Needless to say it still came as quite a shock when he ran away to Mexico days after being re-elected.

from San Angelo Standard Times:
LETTER: A loss to city                  Wanda Scott Childs San Angelo
A loss to city
I watched Mayor J.W. Lown's video promoting San Angelo and it breaks my heart that we have lost him.
If there is any way to get him back, I hope it happens.
The years with Lown as our mayor have been our salad days, and I fear San Angelo will never be so vivacious, promising and eloquent again. Having lived here since 1939, I feel qualified to give J.W. Lown a sparkling review as mayor.
Memorial Day was underscored by many of us as the end of our collective best, with Lown beaming from the top.
His presence cannot possibly be replaced, but I am thankful for the opportunity of bearing witness to his season with us, and I would love to know that he will return to San Angelo at some point to live.

[citizen k]

Lown voices support for Uniting American Families Act
By Matt Phinney (Contact)
Originally published 03:17 p.m., June 4, 2009

Former San Angelo mayor Joseph W. Lown said this week he supports the Uniting American Families Act that would allow American citizens and legal immigrants to seek residency in the United States for their same-sex partners, just as spouses now petition for foreign-born husbands and wives.

Speaking from Mexico, Lown said the act, which is sponsored in the senate by Patrick J. Leahy, is a fair proposal that could keep others from making the decision he made -- leaving the country.

"I recognize the U.S. needs to have orderly immigration policy, but it needs to be equitable," Lown said.

Lown said his decision to resign as the city's mayor was "the best decision for my personal life," but, he added, "I don't think any U.S. citizen should have to be forced to make the decision between family and country and community.

There was a hearing in Washington this week on the proposed bill.

Lown, 32, abruptly resigned May 19 after serving six years as the San Angelo mayor. He turned in a resignation letter that was received by city manager Harold Dominguez the day he was to take the oath of office for his fourth term as mayor.

Since then, Lown has lived in an undisclosed location in Mexico with his partner, whom he will not name. Lown said last week they have moved into a new house in a gated subdivision.

Lown has said he could not take the oath of office while in a relationship with someone who was in the country illegally. The two are in Mexico waiting for Lown's partner to get a visa so they can legally move back to the United States.

[Martinus]

Don't fall in love with illegal immigrants?

Yeah, that does seem to be the real issue here; even if the illegal was female, she'd never get a visa legally after that (fraud in coming to America once generally making you inadmissible).

The issue is that he would then be able to marry her. 

[Ed Anger]

I hope he is stoned to death when he returns.

[The Minsky Moment]

The issue is that he would then be able to marry her. 

Not unless Mexican law permits same sex marriage.

[Martinus]

The issue is that he would then be able to marry her. 

Not unless Mexican law permits same sex marriage.

Is this some joke I am not getting? Because normally you have shown an ability to read and understand posts.