Dianne Feinstein, California's senior senator, has been a longtime supporter of equal rights for gays. During the Proposition 8 campaign five years ago, an ad featuring her personal endorsement for marriage equality was lauded as one of the No on 8 campaign's most effective ads, although it wasn't enough to turn the tide.
Now, the LGBT community needs her leadership again. We need Feinstein to become a co-sponsor of the Uniting American Families Act, which proponents hope to include as an amendment to the immigration reform bill that was recently introduced by a bipartisan group of eight senators. The problem with the bipartisan bill is that it does not now include protections for same-sex binational couples. The UAFA specifically addresses the needs of such couples and in the absence of LGBT provisions in the main bill, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) is expected to introduce the UAFA language as an amendment.
There was a hearing on the bill this week in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on which Feinstein sits. During the hearing, she said that she hoped the immigration bill would go through the process unamended; then, she quickly added, "perhaps there will be a few things."
Feinstein didn't sign on as a co-sponsor of the UAFA in the last Congress, even though she continues to provide a private bill that allows a lesbian in Pacifica to remain in this country with her wife and their children. So it's obvious that Feinstein understands the implications for binational couples, who do not have the right to obtain permanent resident status. We're uncertain, however, why she won't sign on as a co-sponsor, thus lending her name and significant influence to legislation that is needed badly.
When we interviewed Feinstein last fall, we asked her about the UAFA and she acknowledged that she was not a co-sponsor. "I'm way out there now" on other issues, she told us, such as her bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. DOMA, however, is in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court, and thus the urgency to repeal the law has faded. The same is true of gun control legislation, long a priority for the senator. After last week's defeat of the expanded background checks amendment in the Senate, it appears that movement for gun control legislation is stalled for now.
Feinstein is a senior member of the judiciary committee. By co-sponsoring UAFA, she would send an important signal to other senators that it's crucial they join her to protect same-sex couples and families. No one wants to leave their partner and go back to their country of origin without a choice, yet same-sex binational couples are regularly confronted with that reality since current immigration law does not allow the U.S. partner to sponsor their foreign-born partner. The UAFA would remedy that situation. And if Congress won't include LGBT people in immigration reform, we must look to amendments to make that happen.
All of these senators who now support marriage equality must ensure that supporting immigration reform includes LGBT people. The UAFA is a great way to achieve a more level playing field for binational couples. With Senator Feinstein's influential support, UAFA could garner more co-sponsors and be successfully included in the immigration proposal.
Please, Senator Feinstein, become a co-sponsor of the UAFA.