Immigration Equality

Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force/L.A.

c/o L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center / Legal Services

1625 North Schrader Boulevard / Los Angeles, CA 90028-9998

voice: 323.526.2915 / fax: 323.993.7653 / e-mail: lgirtf@abacus.oxy.edu

web: http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/immigration/lgirtfla.html

The next meeting of Immigration Equality will be on the second Tuesday of the month--Tuesday April 13--at 7pm at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center (1625 North Schrader Boulevard in Hollywood, two blocks west of Cahuenga Boulevard and one-half block south of Hollywood Boulevard). We will be meeting in Room 204 (on the second floor) in the library of the Legal Services Department. This month’s topic will be "How can we raise the media profile of gay and lesbian immigrants?"

The Los Angeles Times reported that the INS has agreed to suspend "removal’ proceeding for all non-criminal illegal aliens from the two Central American countries most affected by Hurricane Mitch and to even allow them to apply for work permits which will be valid for 18 months.

In November the INS had suspended deportation proceedings for natives of Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala until March 8, 1999. The new policy only applies to Hondurans and Nicaraguans who entered the United States before December 30, 1998 and who pay the $175 fee. The U.S. Government has made the determination that these two countries were affected by the Hurricane and this is considered a form of compassionate disaster relief.

Even though same-sex couples were able to immigrate to New Zealand and Canada previously

they were not really treated identically to married couples or even unmarried opposite-sex couples. Both countries have now announced that they will be making changes to their immigration rules in order to end the different treatment that same-sex couples receive when they try to immigrate to Canada and New Zealand. For more info look on the web at www.egale.ca

The National Freedom To Marry Coalition (to which the Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force belongs) is making plans for the second annual National Freedom To Marry Day. This is a day on which events are planned all around the country to highlight the impact the lack of the freedom to marry has on same-sex couples. There will be a lot of media coverage. If you would like to participate in an event, contact Christopher Calhoun of the Los Angeles Freedom To Marry Coalition at 323.860.7352 or email LA@freedomtomarry.org

Our parent organization, the Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force (LGIRTF), has

received foundation grants and has been able to hire its first full-time staff person, Jennifer Higgins. The LGIRTF newsletter has been redesigned and renamed as "The Status Report."

If you are on the Immigration Equality (LGIRTF Los Angeles) mailing list and receiving our newsletter by mail then you should also get the Status Report automatically. If not, contact us at 323.526.2915. Or you can contact the LGIRTF National Office at 212.818.9639

The Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force, our parent organization has a website at http://www.lgirtf.org/

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, which has an Asylum Project,

is at http://www.iglhrc.org/

The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the most prominent U.S. organization devoted to gay and lesbian legal issues has a section of its website devoted to immigration at

The Cato Institute and The National Immigration Forum have placed the text of their 1995

report on demographic and economic facts of Immigration in the U.S. on the web, at

The National Immigration Forum has a website at

The American Immigration Lawyers Association has a very useful website at http://www.aila.org/

The Stonewall Immigration Group, our sister organization in the United Kingdom has a website at

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has its official website at http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/