Sometimes I hardly recognize my own country. Happens with alarming frequency these days. A baffling story in today’s NY Times about an Italian visiting his girlfriend and his appalling treatment at the hands of Immigration and Customs officials.
“In America,” he said, “there are so many good people and beautiful people that don’t deserve to be showing these terrible things to the world.”
Well said. His girlfriend will likely move to Italy.
My experience with Jay has made me increasingly curious about mixed-nationality gay couples and their attempts to be together, successful or not. Possibly a photographic essay. Jay and I have a civil partnership from the state of Vermont, which allows us to be together in the UK, where it is officially recognized. We cannot easily move back to the US and settle there together without Jay acquiring some sort of work or study visa.
Our friends Wardi and Ron seem to have had a relatively easy time of it, since they met after Wardi moved to the UK, Ron’s native country. Srinivas and Eric, from India and Holland respectively, struggled for a while as expats in separate countries. Srinivas studied in the US and stayed to work for a company in San Francisco; Eric studied and subsequently remained in London. After Eric’s unsuccessful attempt to find work and immigrate to the US, Srinivas joined him in the UK, where he works from home for his company.
Anyone else? I feel a story project coming on . . .
Tags: article · civil partnerships · customs · gay rights · Immigration · News · NYTimes · United States · visasNo Comments
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