Date: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 00:41:32 -0700 Subject: IE Oct 97 newsletter Immigration Equality Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force/L.A. c/o L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center / Legal Services 1625 North Schrader Boulevard / Los Angeles, CA 90028-9998 voice: 213.526.2915 / fax: 213.993.7653 / e-mail: lgirtf@abacus.oxy.edu web: http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/immigration/lgirtfla.html NEWSLETTER: October 1997 NEXT MEMBERSHIP MEETING SET FOR TUESDAY OCTOBER 14 at 7pm The next meeting of Immigration Equality will be on the second Tuesday of the month--Tuesday October 12--at 7pm at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center (1625 North Schrader Boulevard in Hollywood, two blocks west of Cahuenga Boulevard and one-half block south of Hollywood Boulevard). We will be meeting in Room 204 (on the second floor) in the library of the Legal Services Department. The discussion will be about the recent impact of the effects of the 1996 Immigration Law. CANADIAN IMMIGRATION LAWYER TO GIVE PRESENTATION ON THU OCT 23 AT 7PM Rob Hughes, a prominent gay Canadian immigration lawyer will be speaking about "Queer Emigration To Canada" on Thursday October 23 at 7:00pm in Room 112 of the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center. He is a named partner in the Vancouver law firm of Smith & Hughes and a well-known expert on Canadian and same-sex immigration law. EXTREME PROVISIONS OF 1996 IMMIGRATION LAW ARE NOW IN EFFECT Many readers may have seen media reports about the panic in immigrant communities due to the September 27 and September 30 deadlines. You should attend this month's Immigration Equality for the full details. The simple answer is that September 30 was the day the 3-year bar for most undocumented immigrants who leave the country and attempt to re-enter. IE PARTICIPATES IN INS ASYLUM OFFICER SENSITIVITY TRAINING SESSION On Wednesday September 24 some Immigration Equality members participated in an invited sensitivity training session for over 100 I.N.S. asylum officers in Anaheim. The session was very successful, with many issues raised and information given about how to apply the current law to immigration cases where sexual orientation or AIDS/HIV status becomes an issue. IE TO PARTICIPATE IN Lavender Law and Creating Change CONFERENCES Immigration Equality will be represented at two separate prominent gay and lesbian activist conferences in the Southland in October and November. October 24-26, Lavender Law VI, a queer legal conference will be held in West Hollywood. Queer immigration issues like same-sex marriage, asylum, effects of the new law, legal attitudes towards homosexuality in foreign countries will all be covered at separate sessions. Three weeks later, Creating Change X, the largest, national annual gay and lesbian activist conference will be held in San Diego. There will be sessions on asylum, organizing around the Mexican border and the effects of the 1996 immigration and welfare reform laws. DV-99 ("The Lottery") WILL BE FROM OCT 24 THRU NOV 24 THIS YEAR Immigration Equality and the Immigration Law Project will be holding informational sessions to assist qualified individuals to submit a visa lottery application. The first will be on Tuesday October 28 at 7pm at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. Call Jeff Kim at 213.993.7674 for more information. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO MANAGE IMMIGRATION EQUALITY VOICE MAIL >From time to time, Immigration Equality gets a number of phone calls from people who are desperate to find information about how they, as gay/lesbian/bisexual or HIV-positive individuals, can immigrate legally to the United States. We need someone who can check these voicemail messages on a regular basis and refer people needing legal assistance to the Immigration Law Project at 213.993.7670 x773. If you are interested and available to do this contact Ron Buckmire at 213.259.2536 to volunteer. IMMIGRATION EQUALITY CONTINUES EMERGENCY ASYLUM CAMPAIGN The Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force and International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission are currently implementing a campaign to raise awareness about the April 1, 1998 deadline to file asylum claims based on sexual orientation persecution if you entered the U.S. before April 1, 1997. To that end, thousands of bright yellow postcards have been printed up which should be distributed wherever gay and lesbian immigrants can see them. Contact the Immigration Equality hotline at 213.526.2915 if you are interested in participating in the campaign. YOU CAN HELP WITH RESEARCH ON LESBIAN AND GAY IMMIGRATION Lionel Cantu, longtime IE member, is a PhD student at UC Irvine, writing his thesis on lesbian and gay immigrants. To facilitate his research, Lionel has designed an anonymous questionnaire that he would like IE members to complete and return to him. Available in both English and Spanish, the questionnaire can be picked up at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, Legal Services Department in Room 202. You can also contact Lionel directly at 714.824.4133 or lcantu@orion.oac.uci.edu IMMIGRATION RESOURCES AVAILABLE ON THE WEB The Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force, our parent organization has a website at http://www.lgirtf.org/ The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, which has an Asylum Project, is at http://www.iglhrc.org/ The American Immigration Lawyers Association has a very useful website at http://www.aila.org/ Also, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has its official website at http://www.usdoj.gov/ins The law firm of Siskind et al has launched a website which has copies of actual INS forms at http://www.visalaw.com/ The Canadian law firm of SMITH & HUGHES has an OUT/LAW Immigration site at http://www.smith-hughes.com/olimm.htm The Queer Resources Directory, the oldest queer internet archive, has a section devoted to immigration at http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/immigration Also Available: The Queer Immigration mailing list, QI@abacus.oxy.edu, is a mailing list devoted to the dissemination of information about the impact of immigration laws on gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender individuals. To subscribe, send the one-line email message (leave the Subject blank) to Majordomo@abacus.oxy.edu with the command subscribe qi. ??