In 1996, when Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act into law and President Clinton signed it, lesbian and gay couples could not marry anywhere in the United States. Fifteen years later, tens of thousands of lesbian and gay couples have married and all of them suffer from inequality--no matter how long their relationship or how deep their commitment to each other--because the federal government denies recognition of their marriages and treats them as strangers under the law.
Lesbian and gay binational couples feel the impact of this discrimination every day. Lesbian and gay Americans who are married to non-Americans are not allowed to sponsor their spouses for immigration to the United States. As a result, 36,000 same-sex binational couples live under constant threat of separation, deportation or exile.
What can you do?
Contact your elected representatives in Washington and urge them to end discrimination against lesbian and gay binational couples by repealing the Defense of Marriage Act.
Here is a petition you can sign directing the White House to end its conflicting messages about DOMA deportations.
Find out how to contact your U.S. Senators here and your Representative by entering your zip code here.
