After some legal wins in the cases of bi-national gay and lesbian couples, this devastating story comes out of San Francisco.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports on Bradford Wells, a U.S. citizen, and Anthony John Makk, a citizen of Australia. The two were legally married in Massachusetts seven years ago and have lived together 19 years, primarily in San Fran’s Castro District.
On July 26, the Obama administration made the decision to rip the couple apart and send Makk out of the country, citing the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Makk must leave the country by August 25th.
What makes this story even more heartbreaking and cruel is that Wells is suffering from AIDS and his husband is his primary caregiver. Wells told the Chronicle:
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“I’m married just like any other married person in this country,” Wells said. “At this point, the government can come in and take my husband and deport him. It’s infuriating. It’s upsetting. I have no power, no right to keep my husband in this country. I love this country, I live here, I pay taxes and I have no right to share my home with the person I married.”
As we reported here at the end of June, the deportation case of Henry Valendia was dismissed following a series of questions asked by Attorney General Eric Holder regarding another deportation case. Those questions were the reason Holder vacated an earlier decision to separate a family by deportation.
Unfortunately, the judge in the case of the Wells-Makk family did not see the Obama administration’s decision to no longer defend DOMA as reason enough to stop this injustice.
Please read the entire heartbreaking story at the San Francisco Chronicle.
