Pinay lesbian mom gets deportation reprieve

Wednesday, 08 April 2009 15:52 Ofelia T. Sta. Maria

Shirley Tan, a Filipino lesbian mother from San Mateo, California was supposed to be deported to the Philippines on April 3. 2009; however, on April 4, mercurynews.com reported that the deportation was postponed. The Department of Homeland Security had granted her two more weeks of emergency stay to appeal her case to allow her to stay in the U.S. with Jay Mercado (her partner for 23 years) and their twin sons.

Tan and partner Mercado (a naturalized citizen), were married in San Francisco in 2004; however, the marriage was later voided by the California Supreme Court. The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is a law that does not recognize same sex marriages, even if it is recognized in other states in the United States. As a result, Tan cannot be sponsored by her partner for residency, a complication which would not exist had she been in a heterosexual relationship. If this two-week respite ends badly, Tan will be leaving her partner for more than two decades and their 12-year-old twins."Why can't they just leave us alone? Just because I am not a man, that I cannot petition her (for a green card), they are punishing us," Tan said.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement informed Tan last January 28, 2009 that she was going to be deported to the Philippines where she has an inheritance case battle. She was shot in the head because of this conflict, influencing her to move to the States. In a TV interview, Tan said that her cousin who had shot her had also murdered her mother and sister 24 years ago. This cousin was recently released from jail. Tan fears that if this deportation pushes through and her family follows her to the Philippines, their lives could be put in danger.

Tan and her family are assisted by senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer from the State of California, counsel Melanie Nathan, Phyllis Beech, Rep. Jackie Speier, and Immigration Equality's Julie Kruse. Tan and Mercado hope that their senators could pass a private bill to end this deportation case.

"Should Ms. Tan ultimately find herself deported, her family will have to make the difficult decision of whether to stay in the U.S., the children no longer able to be with their own mother, or to leave behind the only life they have known. Had a law like the The Uniting American Families Act (H.R. 1024; S.424), currently in committee in the house and senate, been on the books, this family would be happily living their lives like any other family. Instead, they fear being torn apart because the heads of their household are two people of the same gender," said the advocacy group Marriage Equality USA (MEUSA).

Tan and Mercado share this problem with about 37,000 binational couples in the United States. Chris Waddling, the Binational Couples Outreach Director for MEUSA said in a statement that The Uniting American Families Act bill by the Congress should happen right away "so that good, hardworking American families like the Tan-Mercados are not criminalized simply because their household is headed by two people of the same gender."

Mercado said: "The main priority is to keep us all together. We fought our families for our relationship. We are both from very close Catholic families. We stood up for our lives and now, just because of this we will be separated?" Tan's simply said, "They are my life now. I cannot be apart from them."

Photo by Ofelia T. Sta. Maria