Social conservatives are calling on
President Barack Obama to cut out gay and lesbian couples from his
proposal on immigration reform.
Obama's blueprint for immigration
reform, unveiled in Las Vegas on Tuesday, includes a provision to
allow U.S. citizens the ability to seek a visa for a spouse “on the
basis of a permanent relationship with a same-sex partner.”
Under the current law, a gay American
cannot sponsor an immigrant spouse for citizenship due to the Defense
of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prevents the federal government from
recognizing their marriage.
The administration's definition of a
“permanent relationship” was not immediately clear.
Brian Brown, president of the National
Organization for Marriage (NOM), the nation's most vociferous
opponent of marriage equality, criticized the president's plan.
“This is yet another example of the
president playing politics rather than enforcing our nation's laws
and offering a true, workable solution,” Brown said.
“First, his administration threw in
the towel and refused to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Then, he came out of the closet on gay marriage. Now, he is
apparently proposing a direct violation of DOMA, currying added favor
with gay activists, many of whom have lavished contributions on his
reelection campaign.”
The Rev. Gabriel Salguero, president of
the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, said the issue is “really
going to complicate it for conservatives who really want immigration
reform.”
(Related: Exit
poll shows majority of Latinos support gay marriage.)
Speaking to the Christian
Post, Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist
Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said gay
couples were a “deal-killer.”
“I don't think it will be in any
proposal that passes the House and the Senate because with it in
there it won't pass the House and the Senate,” he said. “So the
president needs to decide whether he wants immigration reform passed
this year or not … We're just saying that that's a deal-killer.”