In Brief: Why Immigration Is an LGBT Issue

This year, at over 40 locations across the U.S., Lambda Legal will be coming to a neighborhood near you to celebrate Pride. This year promises to feel especially celebratory, as the LGBT and HIV communities have enjoyed some stunning advances—the result of decades of getting back up and fighting after having door after door slammed in our faces.

However, every day, some LGBT people are unable to speak up against discrimination in housing, in the workplace, in schools or in health care settings, not only because they are LGBT, but because they are also undocumented.

Documentation carries tremendous symbolic power. Aside from its day-to-day necessity, it represents inclusion, respect and recognition. All LGBT people know a great deal about what it means not to have our relationships, families or gender identities recognized by our government. Such recognition and respect are also a dream for millions—including thousands of LGBT and HIV-positive people—who have come to the U.S., contribute billions to our economy (despite popular misconceptions) and yet live in fear of deportation.

It's illusory to think that the struggles faced by the movement for immigration reform are not our struggles. As Deepak Bhargava of the Center for Community Change says in our current issue of Impact, our movement, like our country, includes growing numbers of recent immigrants. This Pride season, we'll have a chance to marvel yet again at the astonishing diversity in our community. Let's not forget that not everyone in the crowd equally enjoys the freedoms we've all fought for. Until that day comes, we still have a great deal of work to do.