Kelli Ryan and her wife Lucy Truman have been together for 10 years and they are legally married in Connecticut, but there are no guarantees that they can stay together forever in the United States.
The issue is that Lucy is a native of the United Kingdom and the federal Defense of Marriage Act does not recognize same-sex marriages.
Because of that, the federal government is not likely to approve the couple’s green card application for Lucy unless officials agree to hold off on as lawmakers debate the Defense of Marriage Act. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted in favor of a bill that would repeal DOMA.
Lucy, an ENT surgeon and post-doctorate fellow at Yale, is in the United States legally on a work visa.
But, without a green card, Lucy has to apply for a visa every two years and her immigration status hinges on her being employed.
“If I do not have employment with Yale, I cannot stay in this county,” Lucy said. “(The visa) is not permanent and does not give us a huge amount of security.”
They’ve been apart before and it takes an emotional toll, Lucy said.
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The couple met in Scotland in 2000 and married in a civil ceremony in the United Kingdom in 2006. In 2007, Kelli – a Milwaukee native -- had the opportunity to return to the United States. She has a Ph.D in immunology and was offered an opportunity to do work she loves -- research to combat autoimmune viruses, particularly multiple sclerosis.
Kelli took the job. Lucy stayed in the U.K., making arrangements to join Kelli. In May 2009, she finally made the move and the couple was married in Connecticut in 2010.
With the lack of permanence a visa offers, Kelli said the issues the couple face prohibit them from making decisions other married couples take for granted, such as buying furniture, getting a dog or signing something as simple as a cell phone contract. That requires a two-year commitment.
“It’s a stark reminder of the injustice,” she said.
The couple is applying for a green card through spousal immigration sponsorship but asking the federal government to hold it in abeyance.
“We really, simply, want to be treated fairly and equally,” Kelli said. “I should not be forced to choose between my country and my family.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal is supporting them.
“We are raising here, a supreme immigration, civil rights and justice issue,” Blumenthal said.
He called both women “assets” to their community of Sandy Hook, the state of Connecticut and to the United States.
"The loss would be to Yale, to Sandy Hook, to the state of Connecticut and our nation if we lose these people to another country," Blumenthal said.
The couple submitted their green card application on Thursday, along with a letter Blumenthal wrote to on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, asking them to withhold judgment.
The couple is one of the first in the United States to take this route of action, according to the Immigration Equality Action Fund, which is also taking on their cause.
The federal bill that advanced on Thursday does have opposition.
Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the Senate Judiciary committee's top Republican, told the Associated Press it's "simply wrong to claim that the bill would create federal benefits for all lawfully married couples. In reality, it would create federal benefits for many same-sex couples who are not lawfully married."
Same-sex marriage is legal in the state of Connecticut.
