Last week I wrote a post in my blog,Steveso Thinks, in reference to the failure of the Senate Judiciary Committee Gang of Eight to include same sex bi-national couples in the comprehensive immigration reform bill. I was really angered by Sen. Chuck Schumer, lying through his teeth about supporting these same sex bi-national couples all of these months leading up to the indroduction of this bill and then throwing them under the bus in the final hour. Sen. Patrick Leahy was the only one of the bunch that had the courage of his convictions and vowed his continuied support for LGBT in the full vote of the Senate.
In the days following this epic betrayel my anger towards Schumer and some of the other traitorous Democrats grew, as I gave the incident more thought. Schumer and his cowardly cohorts caved in to Republican bigots who did not want any mention of immigration rights in this so called "comprehensive" immigration bill. First of all "comprehensive" means including "all", not everyone except gays. The exclusion of same sex couples clearly gave the Republicans the legal right to discriminate. Now it's sexual preference discrimination. What's next Sen. Schumer? Secondly every single one of these Gang of Eight deep down in their hearts knew that this bill would never survive the full Senate vote and it would definitely be dead on arrival when it arrives in the Republcan controlled House of Representatives. They could have sent a message to the LGBT community that they did indeed support them, even if the support was token support.
As I am an American citizen member of a same sex bi-national couple forced to live abroad, I naturally have a vested interest in a successful immigration reform bill passing Congress. I am a strong suppporter of immigration rights for all and I also believe that there should be a path to citizenship for the many undocumented aliens living in this country. When I saw that these undocumented aliens would be given immigration rights, but I, as an American, was denied the same rights my anger grew. I am not a second class citizen, but an unclassed citizen. I had the choice of having my partner overstay his visitors visa and break the law or leaving my country to be with the one I love. This choice was difficult, but I was obeying the law. Was I rewarded for doing the right and legal thing? No. But those people who have chosen the illegal path to come and stay in this country could be given the rights I have been denied.
I sincerely believe that the Republicans will never pass a reform bill that will benefit minorities of any kind. They have already hinted that they doubt that giving Hispanics immigration rights would give them the votes they desperately need to win national elections. The only hope I, and many like me, have is what the Supreme Court will do with DOMA later this month.