Comments on Emigration Equality

I think by "export" he means "imprison."

i would like to sign up for that deal please.

I'm straight, but don't leave me behind!

Sigh. We had to cancel our trip to Scotland b/c it just started to get way too expensive with the dollar crashing. It's not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but I thought perhaps this fucking "family" organization would like to subsidize our trip.

my boyfriend has long hair and one time some idiots drove past us and yelled "DYKES!" out the window and threw a beer can at us. do we qualify for exportation?

I'd like to export myself to Prague, Czech Republic. At least there I can get a national-recognized civil union with the strong possibility of same-sex marriage being legalized there.

Plus Czech and Slovak guys are very hot, sweet, and sincere guys.

How about secularist homosexual sympathizers?

"with your organization’s resources, and its proven ability to raise money" It's a shame so many LGBT organizations can't have Dan making the same statement about them...sigh.

Well, at least he's drawing attention to the problem that UAFA intends to correct. (BTW, it affects about 40,000 gay and lesbian couples.)

This issue is personal to me. I am a US citizen but my boyfriend does not have permanent resident status in the US. He is trying to get his green card, but there is NOTHING that I can do to help him. Mail-order brides from Russia and the Phillipines get immigration support, but same-sex couples in long-term relationships are shown the door.

Believe it or not, my boyfriend and I have to keep our relationship a secret from the government because otherwise my boyfriend would be barred from the US on the premise that he might not leave after his current visa expires.

The wingnuts at FRC may be helping our cause. I think many people would find the current immigration mess for same-sex partners to be cruel and unjust. Many people just don't know about it.

uh, hold on there...the UK and the Netherlands are dithering around right now about Mehdi Kazemi, the Iranian teen that is trying to seek asylum and avoid being deported back to Iran and a certain death penalty. The way they've handled it so far, has NOT been too enlightened.

so lets not play the, "everyplace is better than here" card.

also, don't want to hear any "I'm moving to Canada" shit if your presidential candidate of choice does not win...

it's tired.

If I got a friend to pretend to be my girlfriend, would Peter Sprigg send us to Berlin? That would be awesome.

I'd take that deal.

Paris may not be the best choice given that the High Court in France solified marriage as a union between a man and a woman in early 2007. Regardless, I'd imagine treatment in Paris would be more civil anyway.

That said, There's homo-bigotry in any European country, sadly.

If he will subsidize a small little flat on the rive gauche for me, I'm so there...

You will find most of Italy to be waaaaaaaaaaaay more homophobic than the US.

I agree on Spain and the rest, but I wouldnt recomend eastern Europe.

One thing is to visit another....

this is genius!

they do it for the jews/israel.

@1:

By "export" I think he really means, "rendition to a secret CIA prison on foreign soil".

Oh please, please, please, export us bisexuals too. New Zealand for me, please.

I'll go! England, here I come.

Lived in and loved New Zealand. Keep my business open there just so my partner and I have a right of return to the country when the day comes that right wing nut cases make life too intolerable.

However, NZ is not for the faint of heart. It is a 3-4 hour trip to Australia, and that's the closest place of any size. You do feel a bit isolated there.

Just move to Canada, get legally married, then move back to the US.

Under NAFTA they have to allow your spouse in.

Bet Hils didn't think of that loophole when she chaired the NAFTA committee meetings ...

An article/essay/something I've been wanting to write, but have been too lazy about, is the community cost to America's bigotry against gays and lesbians.

Since moving to Vancouver, I've been surprised at the number of businesses around here run by gay Americans--if you have a good business idea (good enough to support yourself and your family) and some money in the bank, immigration as an entrepreneur is pretty easy. The community coffee shop in my neighborhood--the kind of place Seattle really needs, where people actually gather to talk and meet each other and play games and knit and whatever else while eating good, natural food--is run by a sweet lesbian couple from San Francisco who, after years of living together there, decided to emigrate and start the business they've dreamed of and the community they've dreamed of in a country that doesn't make them second-class citizens. Same with the transgendered hairstylist from Florida, or any number of others that I could list...

These are all people who could be running successful businesses--and in the case of the cafe, building a neighborhood center--in the States, but who are instead here because of the discrimination and hatred they faced.

On the other hand, the better for all of us in Vancouver. Export them all, America! :D

I'm bisexual and I'd love a one-way ticket to the UK.

Love and kisses,
Kiru

Oh Jesus, what I would give to get some financial assistance to get full-time in Montreal. I don't speak French well enough to get a job there (wifey is French but bilingual) so maybe they could also throw in some classes? Please?

Under NAFTA they have to allow your spouse in.

Sorry Will -- but there's this fucky little thing called DOMA. I am married to my Quebecer woman in Canada, but have been told twice by the grizzly dykes at the US border in Vermont that if we attempt to get married in MA where I have legal residence, the US will see that as some sort of attempt to get wifey into the US permanently, under cover. And they will ban her ass from even visiting the US forever if so.

She can come and visit for up to 6 months, but can't get a visa to work.

I think I should call Al Gore on the tellyphone and talk to him about how much fuel I burn driving up and back every weekend.

I'm totally for it! Rather spending 170 million a day in Iraq, tax payers money can set us up with hip urban flats and vespas to ride around on!

As much as I agree with the sentiment towards Sprigg I must say that I'm plenty happy right here in the US. Oh I've had my moments when I've wanted to bail ship and live somewhere else, but after a little research realized that very few people in the world are happy with their country. A case of "The Grass is Greener" me thinks.

How about we just deport Sprigg to some country that everyone can agree sucks?

*waves Belgian flag*
Dan, I know you probably don't know where the hell Belgium is, and as a country it's about as boring as you can get, but for once in my life I can be "proud" of my nationality: Belgium was the second country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. Right after Holland did.
But do we ever get mentioned explicitly? Hell no. Pfff. Next time I'm in Bruges I'm confronting American tourists about it, just you wait.

NAFTA is an international treaty. Under the US Constitution, a law such as DOMA is lesser under the law and can not be modified by Congress, as an international treaty is superior.

Next thing you'll try to convince me of is that Tim Eyman has EVER done a constitutionally-valid initiative (he hasn't).

It is also important to be aware that if the non-American spouse is in the United States on a non-immigrant visa, getting married or entering into a civil union with a United States citizen or legal permanent resident could jeopardize the non-immigrant visa. Anyone who is in the U.S. on a non-immigrant visa bears the burden of proving to the U.S. government that his or her intent is to be in the U.S. temporarily. So forming a permanent tie to an American could result in cancellation of the non-immigrant visa and to the denial of subsequent immigration applications.

http://www.hrc.org/issues/int_rights_immigration/4132.htm

Until someone can take the bastards to court and then win DOMA trumps NAFTA in places like the BORDER.

Next thing you'll do is berate me for not hiring a lawyer and going to court.

Shit, I've been trying to move to Canada for MONTHS now.... my boyfriend lives there and I'd love to join him.