Calif. lesbian mother given deportation reprieve

[The Straight Story]

Calif. lesbian mother given deportation reprieve

SAN FRANCISCO --
A Philippines-born lesbian mother ordered to leave the country next month for overstaying her visa will likely be allowed to stay through next year thanks to intervention from U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Feinstein on Wednesday introduced an emergency immigration bill in Congress that would give Shirley Tan two years to apply for a new visa or for permanent U.S. residency. Feinstein spokeswoman Clare Bowyer said Tan cannot be deported unless the legislation is voted down by Congress or expires without being reintroduced.

Tan, who lives in Pacifica with her 12-year-old twin sons and a partner of 23 years, was originally scheduled to be deported three weeks ago but won a temporary stay with help from U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo. Federal immigration officials then gave her until May 10 to leave the country voluntarily.

Tan, 43, has been in California since arriving on a visitor's visa in 1989. She applied for asylum in 1995 because she was afraid of a cousin in the Philippines who had killed her mother and sister and critically wounded her when she was a teenager. She was unaware the petition had been denied until federal agents took Tan away in handcuffs at the end of January, said her 48-year-old partner, Jay Mercado.

She said Thursday that before the Democratic senator interceded, Mercado had halfheartedly considered undergoing a sex-change operation or moving the family to the Philippines or to a country where gay marriage is legal.

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/252/story/697039.html

[customerserviceguy]

1. Their story was in People magazine last week

glad to see that someone in a position of authority stepped in to do something.

Still, I remember reading that while they had one of the San Francisco marriages that was later voided by the California Supreme Court, they did not avail themselves of the Court's more recent ruling on the subject. Even with Prop H8, they would have a leg to stand on, because even if the Court does rule that Prop H8 is valid, they could still declare that the marriages performed before it passed were not dissolved by it.