Hope for Gay Couples in the United States

A response from the Department of Citizenship and Immigration in the United States appeared in Steven Eng and Neal Stone’s mailbox in January: The green card application filed by Neal, a Canadian citizen, and sponsored by Steven, his American spouse, was denied. The reason? The federal law known as the Defense of Marriage Act.

This law says that “the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman.” Thus, the marriage of Steven Eng and Neal Stone, contracted in Manitoba in 2009 and recognized by the state of New York since 2011, does not count in the eyes of the U.S. government. Neal Stone now finds himself unable to obtain permanent resident status in the United States as the spouse of an American, which would pose no problem if he had married an American woman.

Favorable Circumstances

The couple doesn’t like the situation, but it has not beaten them down.

“I am very optimistic,” said Steven Eng, an actor born in Texas 41 years ago, during an interview in the couple’s apartment in Jackson Heights, a neighborhood in Queens.

“There are so many things happening this year,” adds Neal Stone, a 40-year-old city planner from Saskatchewan.

The two men are encouraged by two circumstances that could transform the lives of many gay couples in the United States in 2013. First, there is the reform of the immigration system, which has in principle a rare bipartisan support in Washington. If it’s up to Barack Obama, the final version of the reform will allow couples such as Steven Eng and Neal Stone to enjoy the same immigration rights as heterosexual couples.

“The president has long believed that Americans with same-sex partners from other countries should not be faced with the painful choice between staying with the person they love or staying in the country they love,” said the spokesman for the White House, Jay Carney, on January 29.

Neal Stone did not face an immediate threat of expulsion, but he would like to be able to plan their lives without that fear. He does not believe that his dream will be sacrificed at the last minute to convince conservative politicians to support immigration reform.

“We have great defenders in the Senate and the House [of Representatives] who are not afraid to promote the rights of LGBT immigration. I think there’s a real good chance that we will not be abandoned,” he said.

But if, by chance, Congress did not recognize immigration rights of same-sex couples, the Supreme Court could come to Neal and Steven’s rescue. On March 26 and 27, the judges of the highest court in the U.S. will indeed focus on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8, the referendum that banned gay marriage in California.

The decision of the judges may obviously extend well beyond the framework of immigration rights for homosexual couples. It could in fact lead to the legalization of gay marriage nationwide, a verdict sought by the Obama administration.

130 Signatories

“I think it will happen,” said Steven Eng. “Public opinion is changing at an incredible speed. Even Republicans are not impervious to change. We suddenly have a large number of members of that party who are in favor of gay marriage.”

Steven Eng was referring to the 130 signatories to a document filed Thursday with the Supreme Court calling for the legalization of gay marriage. The text, signed by former governors, legislators and several members of the George W. Bush administration, says in part: “In the years since Massachusetts and other states have made civil marriage a reality for same-sex couples, [the signatories], like many Americans, have observed the impact, assessed their core values and beliefs, and concluded that there is no legitimate, fact-based reason for denying same-sex couples the same recognition in law that is available to opposite-sex couples who wish to marry.”

This message may one day reach the Department of Citizenship and Immigration in the United States. In the meantime, Steven Eng and Neal Stone are crossing their fingers.