Thursday, February 11, 2010

A Major Step Forward For Immigration Reform

In a dramatic show of support for the Uniting American Families Act [UAFA] and LGBT-inclusive Comprehensive Immigration Reform [CIR], members of the LGBT Equality Caucus--a group of US Representatives--sent a letter to President Obama, as well as to the Senate and House leadership. Sixty of the eighty-two member caucus signed the letter which urgently calls for immigration reform and demands inclusion of LGBT families who have historically been locked out of our immigration system.

The letter adds new constituencies in Congress pressing for reform: the Congressional Hispanic Caucus [CHC], the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus [CAPAC], the Congressional Black Caucus [CBC], and the Congressional Progressive Caucus [CPC]. The leaders of all four new groups, all Democrats, signed the letter as well: Nydia Velazquez of New York, Mike Honda of California, Barbara Lee and Raul Grijalva of Arizona, and Lynn Woolsey of California.

The letter is just one in a series of steps the LGBT Equality Caucus has taken to advocate for the Uniting American Families Act and LGBT binational families.

Congressional sign-on letters are important because they show a voting block of support for a specific policy and can have major influence over content of legislation. This letter sends a strong demand for fairness for all families.


Immigration Equality [
HERE] commends the leader of the sign-on effort, Representative Tammy Baldwin, along with the other five House members who spearheaded the effort: Jared Polis and Barney Frank, who co-chair the LGBT Equality Caucus along with Baldwin; Jerrold Nadler, Mike Honda, and Mike Quigley, an emerging champion of LGBT binational families.

Here is a list of the U.S. Representatives who signed on to the letter; if your Representative signed, please call or email their office to thank them. They need to know we appreciate them standing up for all families!

Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin
Jared Polis, Colorado
Barney Frank, Massachusetts
Mike Honda, California
Jerrold Nadler, New York
Mike Quigley, Illinois
Neil Abercrombie, Hawaii
Shelley Berkley, Nevada
Howard Berman, California
Earl Blumenauer, Oregon
Robert Brady, Pennsylvania
Lois Capps, California
Michael Capuano, Massachusetts
Andre Carson, Indiana
Judy Chu, California
Yvette Clarke, New York
Susan Davis, California,
Diana DeGette, Colorado
William Delahunt, Massachusetts
Mike Doyle, Pennsylvania
Keith Ellison, Minnesota
Eliott Engel, New York
Bob Filner, California
Raul Grijalva, Arizona
Luis Gutierrez, Illinois
Phil Hare, Illinois
Jane Harman, California
Alcee Hastings, Florida
Mazie Hirono, Hawaii
Rush Holt, New Jersey
Steve Israel, New York
Patrick Kennedy, Rhode Island
Dennis Kucinich, Ohio
Barbara Lee, California
John Lewis, Georgia
Nita Lowey, New York
Carolyn Maloney, New York
Doris Matsui, California
Jim McDermott, Washington
James McGovern, Massachusetts
James Moran, Virginia
Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of Columbia
Frank Pallone, New Jersey
Chellie Pingree, Maine
Steve Rothman, New jersey
Linda Sánchez, California
Janice Schakowsky, Illinois
Jose Serrano, New York
Brad Sherman, California
Jackie Speier, California
Pete Stark, California
Edolphis Towns, New york
Niki Tsongas, Massachusetts
Nydia Velázquez, New York
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida
Henry Waxman, California
Anthony Weiner, New York
Peter Welch, Vermont
Lynn Woolsey, California
David Wu, Oregon

No comments:

Post a Comment

Say anything, but keep it civil .......