Immigration stories from the National Center of Lesbian Rights (NCLR)

Several stories are from the immigration activites of the National Center of Lesbian Rights (NCLR)

Donna and Marie-Jo

We met in 1994 while Marie-Jo was on assignment in Washington, DC. We married religiously with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) on May 4, 1996 in Arlington, VA where we lived at the time. When Marie-Jo had to return to Belgium at the end of 1998, fortunately she was legally able to sponsor me [...]

jAms (Canada) and Shannon (United States)

Shannon and I met one week upon my arrival in San Francisco in the summer 2007. I was only visiting for 6 weeks, and wanted to check out the queer arts and culture in the Bay Area. Our romance began as a magical summer love. Close to my departure, Shannon decided to come see me [...]

Javier (Mexico) and Victor (Puerto Rico)

My name is Javier. I am a 27 years old Mexican gay guy who fell in love with a beautiful 36 years old Puerto Rican. We meet in Dallas, Texas a couple of years ago and immediately fell in love. We started living together shortly after a few months of dating. After this period of [...]

Stephanie (UK)

I recently came out as bisexual to my British husband of 6 years. I hail from New York but live permanently now in south west of England with him in a relatively rural location, well outside London, so I have come to expect some relatively provincial attitudes about most things related to gender, sexuality and [...]

Ratanak Rin (Cambodia)

I always knew that I am gay, because I always like boys …. Life wasn’t that hard for me back then since I was only a kid.

Working with Metaphors in Counseling

The approach I use in counselling /psychotherapy is based on the principal that we interpret and make meaning of life through the stories we tell ourselves and others.

Tina (U.S) & Anke (Germany)

We both have given up alot but refuse to give in! We will keep on fighting until we make our dream come true. We are thankful to be together knowing what the months apart felt like.

Gays and Lesbians in Belarus want to leave

The main reason why the representatives of gay and lesbian community want to leave the country is the social disapproval of homosexual relations, violence against gays and lesbians, the absence of social defense, law basis, civilized recreation sector, and also the fear of losing the job if the fact of being a homosexual will be revealed to the authorities.

The Marriage Metaphor – Why we should know the meaning behind words

As of January 2010 there are over 36,000 bi-national couples dealing with additional stress on their relationship due to the fact their country of origin has failed to legally recognize their relationship. This paper is about better understanding the meaning behind the words.