Immigration Overhaul: Gay Rights Groups

Immigration Overhaul Dept: WASHINGTON - Frustrated at being left out of an immigration overhaul, gay rights groups are pushing to adjust a bipartisan Senate bill to include gay couples. But Democrats are treading carefully, wary of adding another divisive issue that could lose Republican support and jeopardize the entire bill, according to Winnipeg Free Press. Even so, gay rights groups, their lobbyists and grass-roots supporters are insisting the deal shouldn't exclude bi-national, same-sex couples about 28,500 of them, according to a 2011 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA Law. They're ramping up a campaign to change the bill to allow gay Americans to sponsor their partners for green cards, the same way straight Americans can. Supporters trekked to the Capitol to make their case at senators' offices on Wednesday and From left, Shirley Tan, Jay Mercado, and their twin sons Jashley Mercado, and Jorien Mercado, both 16, from Pacifica, Calif., walk to the Capitol on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 24, 2013, to lobby Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. Shirley is undocumented and Jay in an American citizen. They have been together for 27 years and have raised Jashley and Jorien. They and other gay rights activists are lobbying Senators today pushing to change the immigration bill to allow gay Americans to sponsor visas for their same-sex partners the way straight Americans can. Democrats are treading carefully on a proposed addition to the bipartisan immigration overhaul. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster Both parties want the bill to succeed. Merely getting to agreement on the basic framework for the immigration overhaul, which would create a long and costly path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million people in the U.S. illegally, was no small feat for senators. And getting it through a divided Congress is still far from a done deal. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.