From PRESS RELEASE
On July 15, 2013, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a green card to U.K. citizen, Karin Bogliolo, 72, based on her marriage to U.S. citizen
Judy Rickard, 65, making Karin the third gay immigrant in U.S. history to become a lawful permanent resident on the basis of a same-sex marriage.
“The issuance of this green card to Karin Bogliolo is the culmination of a two-decade grassroots movement in which lesbian and gay Americans fought for the right to sponsor the person that they love for permanent resident status in the United States, said Lavi Soloway, founder of the DOMA Project. "Lesbian and gay binational couples and their families celebrated the Fourth of
July this year with the Supreme Court decision in US v. Windsor fresh in their
minds: having achieved freedom from a cruel law that has torn apart loving,
committed couples, forced lesbian and gay Americans into exile to be with the
person they love and has resulted in the unconscionable deportation of partners
and spouses of lesbian and gay Americans. The long nightmare is over.
In striking down DOMA, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy held that,
‘[DOMA] tells those couples, and all the world, that their otherwise valid
marriages are unworthy of federal recognition. This places same-sex couples in
an unstable position of being in a second-tier marriage... And it humiliates tens
of thousands of children now being raised by same-sex couples. The law in
question makes it even more difficult for the children to understand the integrity
and closeness of their own family and its concord with other families in their
community and in their daily lives. By issuing a green card to Karin on the basis of her marriage to Judy, the U.S. government is finally recognizing the inherent Dignity of this family, and giving tangible meaning to Justice Kennedy’s ruling.”
Click Here for MK's Interview from 2011 with Judy Rickard.
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