Immigration Equality

            Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force/LA
   c/o L.A Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center/Legal Services Department
             1625 North Schrader Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028-9998
   (new vox) 213-526-2915 (fax) 213-993-7699 (email) LGIRTF@abacus.oxy.edu
     http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/immigration/lgirtfla.html

February 1996 Newsletter


FEBRUARY MEETING SET FOR TUESDAY FEBRUARY 13 7PM

The next regularly-scheduled monthly meeting of Immigration Equality will be Tuesday, February 13 at 7pm at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center (1625 North Schrader Boulevard in Hollywood, two blocks west of Cahuenga Boulevard and one-half block south of Holywood Boulevard.)

OVER 500 PEOPLE ATTEND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE TOWN HALL MEETING

The Los Angeles Freedom To Marry Coalition (Immigration Equality is a member) sponsored a Town Hall Meeting in West Hollywood to discuss same-gender marriage on Tuesday, January 23. Over 500 people attended and the event was filmed by C-SPAN, Dateline NBC and a number of other media outlets. One of the highlights of the event was that during the question and answer period there was a question on the effect of same-sex marriage on the immigration rights of gays and lesbians! The question was answered by Dan Foley, the heterosexual attorney who is litigating the same-sex marriage case, and Evan Wolfson, Director of LLDEF's Marriage Project. They said that they have an official letter from the General Counsel of the Immigration and Naturalization Service which says that INS has no position on the impact of same-sex marriages for immigration purposes.

ANTI-MARRIAGE BILL PENDING IN CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE

The Republican-controlled California Assembly has passed Assembly Bill 1982, which amends the California Marriage Law to state that ``a marriage contracted outside this state between individuals of the same gender is not valid in this state.'' This is an attempt by the conservative radical right to negate the impact of Hawaii marriage case on California residents. There is still a chance to defeat this bill in the State Senate, where Democrats have a 1-vote majority. Please contact the Senate Democratic Leader at Senator Bill Lockyer, State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814 or by fax at 916-323-2234 or email at Senator.Lockyer@sen.ca.gov

THE CENTER'S IMMIGRATION LAW PROJECT CONTINUES

Even though it currently has no Director, the Immigration Law Project of the Gay and Lesbian Commuinty Center has five volunteer attorneys available for appointments each month. Call 213-993-7677 to make up an appointment or to get more information.

OUTREACH TO EDUCATIONAL GROUPS TO INCREASE

Now that we have a copy of Love Knows No Borders and English/Spanish versions of the pamphlet we have great talking points which we can use to educate other groups about the issues involved with same-gender marriage and lesbian and gay immigration rights in general. Plans are underway for viewings of the video at Occidental College, UCLA and UC Irvine. If you are involved with a group which can be shown the Love Knows No Borders video and spark a discussion on same-gender marriage and gay and lesbian immigration rights, please get involved with Immigration Equality by attending the February meeting.