Press release
Amsterdam, Monday, 29 January 2007
Dutch Gay Activists to Advise American Democrats
Love Exiles fighting for family rights in the US
A delegation of the Dutch Love Exiles Foundation will speak on 2 February 2007 at a meeting of the Democratic national committee in Washington DC. Love Exiles is a foundation that advocates for the right for US gays and lesbians with foreign partners to live in their home country. “Because we don’t have this one right, to live in our own country, we are excluded from all our other rights as US citizens,” love exile Robert Bragar told foreign gays and lesbians living with their European partners at an event to prepare for the Washington visit, yesterday evening.
While in the Netherlands and most European countries foreign partners of gays and lesbians have some immigration rights based on their relationship, the opposite is true in the USA. Americans with a relationship with a foreigner cannot sponsor their same-sex partner for immigration purposes. They have to choose between leaving their country or having a long distance relationship.
Martha McDevitt-Pugh and Robert Bragar, board members of the Love Exiles Foundation, will represent the group at the Democratic Party meeting. They will call on members of congress to support the ‘Uniting American Families Act’ when it is introduced in Congress. “Our goal is to get this issue on the Democratic agenda”, explains McDevitt-Pugh. She continues: “If this bill becomes law, we will be able to sponsor our foreign partners to live with us in the US, just as straight people can.”
McDevitt-Pugh, formerly a senior manager in Silicon Valley, is married to a Dutch woman. New York lawyer Robert Bragar is married to a Dutch man. Both live in Amsterdam and neither can live legally with their spouses in the US.
Community Event
The Love Exiles Foundation hosted a community event yesterday evening to collect stories of love exiles, in preparation of the visit to Washington. Love Exiles living in Spain, Belgium and Germany joined the group. “We are upset,” one guest who is living with her partner in Spain said. “My mother migrated to the US from Greece. She worked two and sometimes more jobs so that we could have food in our bellies. Now that she is old, I am forced to live outside the country and can’t support her. My brother recently met a Greek girl and was able to sponsor her to come to the States. I have been with my partner for 10 years and have no rights. We want the right to live at home.”
Note to the editor::
Martha McDevitt-Pugh and Robert Bragar are available for interviews before their trip to Washington on February 1st .
For more information:
exiles@xs4all.nl
www.loveexiles.org