Valentine’s Day is not for everybody. I’m not talking about the lonely hearts and the unromantics who start to dump on the holiday of love from the moment the first Hallmark card ad airs. What I’m talking about is LGBT Americans, shut out from proper recognition of our relationships at the federal level, and in particular same-sex binational couples.
The story of Anton and Brian has been in the news the past week. Although they are life partners, Brian, who is a US citizen, has no right to protect Anton from the clutches of the US immigration system. Anton’s visa is up, and the US wants to deport him. If Brian and Anton could simply have their relationship recognized by our government, they probably would be celebrating Valentine’s Day today – in fact a lot more of us would (and Hallmark’s bottom line would get even bigger).
Instead, Anton will spend the day in court – and if his attorney cannot get the deportation stayed, Brian and Anton might have the worst Valentine’s Day imaginable. They could literally be torn apart.
Read the comprehensive post about why today, love doesn’t matter by Clarknt67 at Pam’s House Blend. Pre-order Judy Rickard’s excellent book on the real stories of same-sex binational couples, “Torn Apart”. Enter the code OUT416 and a $4 donation will be made to Out4Immigration, the all-volunteer, grassroots group that works tirelessly to bring change to the US immigration law so that all families can be treated equally.
Kathy Drasky regularly writes about online culture. Her marketing and communications work with the ANZA Technology Network, Advance Global Australians and with various Australians and Australian enterprises has led to at least a dozen trips Down Under.
An accomplished digital photographer, her photos have appeared in 7×7 Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Google Schmap.
