Geopolitical Pop Quiz

Hat tip to Constant Reader Phil for alerting me to this item.

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OK, so guess what these countries have in common (note the glaring absence of the United States):

Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Oh, yeah…add Brazil as of December 2003.

Give up?

Each of these civilized countries has found a way to resolve what I consider a great social injustice. That’s right, Brazil is ahead of the United States when it comes to righting wrongs…

“What’s he on about,” you ask?

There’s a bill now stalled in Congress called PPIA or “Permanent Partners Immigration Act” (not to be confused with the “Poultry Products Inspection Act”).

Introduced by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) it would grant gay couples the same right as heterosexual couples to sponsor the residency of their permanent partners. In other words, in lieu of being able to marry, the PPIA would provide a legal option for a gay American who is in a committed partnership with someone who doesn’t have permanent residency in the United States. Or, more formally, it’s designed:

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide a mechanism for United States citizens and lawful permanent residents to sponsor their permanent partners for residence in the United States, and for other purposes.

This is not an uncommon idea. Sixteen other countries currently offer their citizens this.

Currently PPIA has 120 co-sponsors in the House and 11 in the Senate. But, as Nadler notes

“It’s a very simple bill which adds the words ‘permanent partner’ to the immigration law on spouses…But the Republicans won’t hear of it. There’s no doubt if we had a Democratic House, we’d get a vote on it.”

And, of course, there are others interested in seeing that this bill goes nowhere:

Nadler’s bill has been vociferously opposed by conservative religious organizations such as the Traditional Values Coalition, which considers the bill a backdoor way to legalize gay marriage, and the Culture and Family Institute, which has said it would make the United States a magnet for gays.

The bill has also been criticized by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington-based group that opposes illegal immigration. That group argues that the bill would worsen marriage fraud, already a popular shortcut for illegal immigrants to gain permanent status in this country.

I can almost forgive the Traditional Values Coaltion and the Culture and Family Institute. After all, they’re only blinded by their religious beliefs and (I assume) are not trying to perpetuate an injustice out of laziness or sheer meanspiritedness. The Federation for American Immigration Reform, on the other hand, just shot to the top of my shit list for suggesting that gays should bear the burden over straight couples for the system’s inability to rightfully stamp out fraud. I’m not willing to sacrifice my life, my love, or my dignity to compensate for their laziness, let alone their infuriating ignorance.

If you don’t know or haven’t realized already, I have a vested personal interest in seeing this bill become law. So do plenty of others. Two such people have formed the organization “Love Sees No Borders” to help provide assistance and education on this issue. Their story was told in yesterday’s Washington Post.

Read it if you get a chance. Try not to wince when you get to the part where they explain how Brazil already has a law that addresses this.