Suzanne, Debbie and Finn
I met the love of my life, Debbie nearly six years ago. We met in London (although I’m Scottish) whilst she was visiting from the USA. It was love at first sight and although we lived 6,000 miles apart we were determined to be together. A year went by with many trips to and from the USA. There were thousands of love letters, emails and even though there was 8 hours difference we would stay on the phone for hours at a time.
It soon became clear that we needed to be in the same time zone and although I had a very well paid job in London and lots of family and friends we decided that we could both call the USA home. I was under the impression that the USA was liberal and equality was for all. After all, nearly all of Europe, Canada and Australia have civil partnerships which extend to immigration for same sex partners. How naive can a girl be? Getting a job with my experience was no problem. However, companies were not interested when I explained I would also need sponsorship. Since we were the same sex, we could not marry or have a civil partnership that would allow Debbie to sponsor me. Even though a heterosexual couple didn’t even need to be married to sponsor their fiance.
After years of waiting for each other, the only option seemed to be to come to the USA on a student Visa. So, I sold my beautiful home in Edinburgh, Scotland to pay for school and moved to California to be with my sweetheart. We have never looked back. In November 08 Debbie gave birth to our beautiful son Finn. We are the happiest and proudest parents on the planet. However, every day we live with the constant fear that my visa will expire and our future is very, very uncertain. Prop 8 was another devastating blow and made us realize that, although we think of ourselves as decent, loving human beings, the majority does not hold the same opinion. We are not free to pursue the same goals as every other American, and for this our families suffer immeasurably. For us, time is running out, but for many of our friends time ran out and they were forced to leave the USA and seek asylum in a foreign land.
There is not one day that goes by without us hoping for Obama and the Senators to pass UAFA. I hope it won’t be too late for us and thousands of other families.
So a little update…..myself, Debbie & Finn welcomed our second son Moss on august 2010. He completes our incredible family. Two amazingly, healthy boys with so much love it could displace an ocean. Unfortunately, with any growing family we worry how we will make ends meet. I have to stay in school to be here on my visa. I wish I was working, paying taxes and that I wasn’t petrified our family could be torn apart any day now. I hope america will catch up to the rest of the world and stop denying basic human rights to it’s citizens.
Suzanne we truly hope you both continue your fight for a freedom that the US denies both yourselves and your family. We hope you both understand that Europe and the United Kingdom have laws that will allow your family a right to private family life and without the threat of deportation of your partner.
We may perhaps need to welcome you home to a democratic UK and Europe for I fear you may end up a student in the US for many years. We would welcome you, your partner and family back to a country that you would all be able to call home. We wish you great success in the US and we will continue to fight your corner from this side of the Atlantic. I am ashamed to tell you that not one politician has responded to our letter asking for the support of the UAFA act.
sincerely
Richard