Notes
- Asian American Federation of New York, Asian Pacific American Same-Sex Households: A Census Report On New York City, San Francisco And Los Angeles (March 22, 2004).
- Almost half of the households in New York and Los Angeles, and a quarter of those in San Francisco had children.
- Nearly one-in-five households in each New York and Los Angeles were low income. The rate for lesbian households was more dramatic for APA women. In New York, 27% of lesbian, but only 11% of gay male households earned less than $25,000.
- Alain Dang and Mandy Hu, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute, Asian Pacific American Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender People: A Community Portrait (2004).
- Urvashi Vaid commented that, “the issues that activists champion, immigrations' rights, [community] education, and fighting racism, are often different enough from the white-dominated, mainstream gay organizations.” Nikhil Shimpi, “Gay & Indian: Minority twice over,” Indian Express (North American edition), March 19, 2004.
- Express News Service, “Indian Couple Seeks Right to Wed,” Indian Express (North American edition), Mar. 19, 2004. African American couples have only occasionally been represented.
- Pam Belluck, “Eight Diverse Gay Couples Join to Fight Massachusetts,” New York Times, June 18, 2004. There was no mention of any of the couples' race.
- This would include Evan Wolfson at Freedom to Marry, Kate Kendall at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Mary Bonato at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, and Cheryl Jacques at the Human Rights Campaign.
- The Federation found that 73% in San Francisco, 83% in Los Angeles, and 81% in New York of APA same-sex households were immigrants. Though most in the two California cities became citizens through naturalization, in New York, only 39% became citizens, 42% were not citizens.
- Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, Warning for Same-Sex Bi-national Couples: Marriage Will Not Fix Immigration Problems, May Cause New Ones, available at http://www.glad.org/rights/Binational_Couples_Warning.shtml (last visited March 23, 2005).
- Adams v. Howerton, 673 F.2d 1036 (9th Cir. 1982) (citing Fiallo v Bell, 430 U.S. 787, 792 (1977) and Hampton v. Mow Sun Wong, 426 U.S. 88 (1976)).
- Even before DOMA, courts already upheld the denials of citizens from sponsoring their non-citizen spouses for immigration purposes when they got married. Ibid.
- H.R. 832, 108th Congress (February 13, 2003). Passage is unlikely because all the congressional sponsors are Democrats and the lone Republican sponsor is gay. Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force, Status Report 2002 No. 2 (2002).
- It is important to note that some have criticized this effort as well for the same reasons here. The couples tend to be white US citizens with Latino lovers or white-white US-European relationships.
- Press Release, Queer Asian Pacific Alliance, “Queer Asian Group Warns Bi-national Couples Marriage Will Not Fix Immigration Problems” (May 17, 2004).
- It is important to note that within the LGBT community, there is dissention about marriage as the central gay rights issue. Some have criticized that the selection of marriage was made by a few advocates and lawyers without any accountability or consultation within the broader gay community. However, Michael Adams from Lambda Legal Defense Fund responded at the Queers for Racial and Economic Justice forum in New York City in 2004 that that Lambda and its lawyers are accountable to two constituencies: the community and their clients. He spoke about individuals who lacked health care or could not visit their hospitalized partners. They had real needs. Lawyers first and foremost have a duty to the individual couples they represent. These couples stood, not by election or approval, but by circumstances, for countless others who were similarly situated.
- The percentages were: immigration (40%), hate violence/harassment (39%), media representation (39%), HIV/AIDS (35%), marriage/domestic partnership (26%). The responses to the question asking the most important issues facing all APAs in the U.S. were immigration (69%) and media representation (36%). Immigration was the most frequently cited most important issue concerning both all APAs and more specifically LGBT APAs. Media representation was also in the top three.
- Whitney McNally, “Anthropology: Gay or Asian?,” Details, April 2004.
- Nicholas Boston, “Magazine Feature Outrages Asians,” Gay City News April 14, 2004. But see, Glenn Magpantay, “Lost in ‘gay’ or ‘Asian’?,” Asian American Journalists Association Newsletter, DateLine AAJA (Summer 2004).
- The percentages were: community building and organizing (19%), visibility (15%), health care (12%), immigration (11%), and media representation (10%).
- Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Resource Kit (2003).
- The Federation found that limited English proficiency was much more common among APA than in non-Asian same-sex households. 9% in San Francisco, 23% in Los Angeles, and 16% in New York spoke English “not well” or “not at all.”
- Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, The Asian American Vote 2004, A report on multilingual exit poll of Asian Americans, April 2005 (surveying almost 11,000 Asian Americans in twenty-three cities in eight states in twenty-three Asian languages and dialects).
- Elena Shore, “Ethnic Communities Speak out Against Gay Marriage,” Pacific News Service, June 8, 2004; Mary Ellen Peterson, “Thousands Protest Gay Marriage As Poll Shows Opposition Softening,” 365Gay.com Newscenter, April 26, 2004.
- Editorial, World Journal (February 20, 2004) (Chinese), reported by Yvonne Lee, “Chinese Newspaper Rejects Same-Sex Marriage” news.ncmonline.com (March 23, 2004) (English).