Latinos Progresando Addresses LGBT Immigration Issues

Dear Advocates,

Hope this finds you all well. Below please find a summary of what was
discussed at our last mtg. as well as some other news. Also, just want
to congratulate Orgullo en Accion for a wonderful 1st annual Latino/a
LGBT Leadership Summit! May it be the first of many!

Summary of 3/8 Meeting:

1. IMMIGRATION REFORM: We further discussed the Sensenbrenner bill,
as well as the changes made to it by Senator Arlen Specter during the
last three weeks. I will be forwarding an email that summarizes the
Specter "markup" piece and explains why these recent changes do nothing
to address the severely punitive nature of the original bill. For
example, the bill continues to criminalize immigrants and those who
love and help them, gives local police the right to enforce immigration
laws, and limits the due process rights of immigrants. I wil shortly
send more details on the law and how to contact our Senators.

2. LGBT IMMIGRANTS: Now that we have had four succesful mtgs. we are
looking for ways to bring the varying issues of LGBT immigrants to our
community(ies).

What needs to get done?

a. Development of Mission Statement that properly states who we
are and what we are about. This "Manifesto" should serve to explain to
anyone interested why our alliance is necessary and what we hope to
accomplish with it. This way, as new people join us we can more easily
share our vision with them. Please email me whould you have any
questions or suggestions regarding this.

b. Manual/Directory: At the moment we have three volunteers who
are working on putting this resource together: Renee from Latinos
Progresando, Tania from Radio Arte and Nicole from Orgullo en Accion.
For more info. on how you can help please email Renee at
rneuner@uchicago.edu or tania@radioarte.org.
Even if you cannot contribute your time, please email suggestions
and/or contact info. to our volunteers!

c. Town Hall Meeting: We are planning a town hall mtg. set for
second or third week of May. With this event, we are hope to reach the
community at large and begin a wider discussion about all the things we
have touched upon and then some. Topics we are looking at currently
include:

1. Access (lack thereof) to family petition benefits for same sex
partners;
2. The legal and social hurdles met by HIV positive immigrants;
3. The benefit of asylum for those who flee their countries due to
persecution based on gender and/or sexual orientation;
4. Particular issues facing transgendered immigrants;
5. Domestic violence in same sex families and the current lack of
legal protection under the Violence Against Women Act.

We have envisioned the first town hall to be more general in scope as a
means of intro. others to these important problems. Ideally, these
mtgs. would become regular and would cover one topic at a time in
greater detail. Though we are focused right now on legal immigration
matters, there are many other issues related to the health, safety and
general well being of LGBT immigrants in Chicago. We are open to
suggestions!


To help out with the TH Meeting, pleas email Yasmin at
nairyasmin@yahoo.com.



Finally, please reach out to others about our alliance and the work we
are doing. There are many in the community who should be here but
might not be aware yet.

Our next mtg. is set for April 5 at 6pm. We are changing the location
to Radio Arte in Pilsen. A more detailed annopuncement will be sent.
Thanks to Silvia and the Museo for letting us use such a great space!