the writing seminar faculty at princeton and a professional dance teacher and a small business owner join me in studio and tell me what they re facing. it s good to have you here. i appreciate your time and also your willingness to share your story. josh, what is the situation right now in what you face for henry s possible deportation? henry faces a deportation hearing may 6th so a little over a week from now. the reason he s being deported, he s from venezuela, we re a same-sex couple. we got married last year and yet the federal government does not recognize our marriage. in the immigration context the federal government comes into my home and rips my husband away from me. henry, for you, when you came here in 2002 from vens ezuela a you came on a visitor s visa, did you think then that you wanted to stay, that you wanted to become a green carded citizen here in the u.s. and what steps did you take at that point to do it on your own?
henry, my husband, and all of the thousands of same sex couples like us, stop those deportations right now. that s what we need her to do. i want to point out to everybody, a group that s following the bi-national issue right now in our country, it s saying that 35,000 gay couples are affected by this. 47% have kids. this is ripping at the fabric much of families in our country right now. as i understand it, immigration services announced even after obama said it was unconstitutional that deportation hearings would continue. so when president obama came out and said that they felt it was unconstitutional, did you think you wouldn t have to face the potential for deportation? well, it certainly brings hopes to couples like us and it gives us some hope. then we saw how they deported couples which is unk
unconstitutional. ripping families apart. and part of our movement, couples like us who are facing this nightmare. josh, did you think that doma was instituted in 1996. obviously you were a lot younger back then. but did you feel that you would always get married one day and did you feel i know you feel this is a violation of your rights as an american, but i guess you felt that you had hopefulness enough that you were able to find someone that you fell in love with, you did go ahead and get married. so how does this affect your day in and day out marriage having to worry about this looming over your heads all the time? it s incredibly frightening. henry is my other half, the person i want to spend my life with. that s why i married him and that s, as an american, what i always expected i d be able to do, marry whomever i want. if that person is from another country, that person stays with me here in this country for the
well, like every other person who comes to america you are facing the american dream, right? with josh, who is my other half, and what is really sad is it s because i m gay. and the government to reconsider, many other couples in america who can sponsor their spouses. it s basic american citizen s right. when you got married in connecticut, a state that recognizes your right to be married, did you know then that federally you would have this hurdle to face? yeah, i mean this law, the defense of marriage act, it exists and i knew that it existed and that the federal government would not recognize my marriage and i wouldn t be able to sponsor henry, but i think that s wrong and unjust. and the issue for us is that may 6th henry could be ripped away from me. that doesn t have to happen. secretary napolitano could stop the deportations of spouses like