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January 5, 2012

Bi-National Gay Couple in San Francisco Granted Deportation Stay 
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Meanwhile a bi-national gay married couple in San Francisco has won a
reprieve against a deportation order that threatened to tear them apart.
Bradford Wells, a U.S. citizen, and Anthony John Makk, an Australian
national, have lived together for 19 years and were among the first
same-sex couples to legally marry in Massachusetts. Makk has faced
deportation after the Obama administration denied him and his husband
the same immigration benefits routinely given to opposite-sex couples.
The decision is based on the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996
law known as DOMA, which denies federal benefits to same-sex couples.
The Obama administration has said it would no longer defend DOMA in the
courts, but the law still remains in effect. On Wednesday, Makk was told
he been granted a temporary stay on the deportation order allowing him
to remain in the United States for two years. Speaking to Democracy Now!
earlier this year, Bradford Wells discussed the prospect of that
outcome.

Bradford Wells: "I don’t want my family to live with an order of
deportation hanging over us. This man has been a good man. He’s worked
hard. He’s obeyed the law. He should not have to live here under an
order of deportation. He should have the same dignity that everybody
else has when they come to this country. He’s done nothing wrong.
He’s followed the rules. He should be given his dignity and allowed to
stay here not under an order of deportation. That order could always
come later, if for some reason DOMA was found constitutional and this
was settled not in our favor. But if Anthony is under order of
deportation, that’s going to add a lot of stress to our relationship,
and it’s going to put a lot of unnecessary stress on me. It’s not
good for my health, it’s not good for anybody’s health, to live
under unnecessary strain. There’s no benefit to anybody."



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