Lesbian Binational Couple Gets A Break

In a step that could mean reprieve for hundreds of binational same-sex couples across the nation, a judge has halted the deportation process for Sujey Pando, a Mexican national who was brought to the US at the age of 16 and then disowned by her family because she is a lesbian.  She is married to her longtime partner Violeta, having taken advantage of marriage equality in the state of Iowa.

She was due to be deported back to Mexico, an issue her siblings avoided because her parents obtained citizenship for them.  Due to her sexuality, the same steps were not taken to keep Sujey in the US.

The judge was acting on a directive published by the Obama administration last week in an attempt to prioritize deportations to keep non-threatening nationals from being kicked out of their adopted country.  Immigration has pledged to review the 300,000 deportation cases currently pending to ensure that the individuals being deported are a threat to the security and well-being of Americans.

In a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) today, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano explains that the case-by-case approach was first detailed in March 2010 and recently reiterated in a memorandum from June, 2011. She argues that the process will enhance public safety and allow immigration judges “to more swiftly adjudicate high priority cases, such as those involving convicted felons.” “This process will also allow additional federal enforcement resources to be focused on border security and the removal of public safety threats,” she argues. 

The new process is a result of a long-standing administration policy to ensure that the nation is “not clogging the system with folks who are not maximum priorities,” a senior administration official explained. Lower-priority deportation cases “are being set aside so we can focus more on our more serious cases of convicted criminals and other high priority categories.”

Pando's attorney, Levi Soloway, explains from his blog Stop the Deportations:

"Today Denver Immigration Judge Mimi Tsankov halted the deportation of Sujey Pando and scheduled a new hearing to consider an application based on her marriage to her U.S. citizen wife, Violeta Pando. Because today's hearing was intended to be a final decision day on Sujey's deportation, the judge's action was unusual; she spent 45 minutes methodically considering the procedural posture of the case. In the end, the Judge set aside the intended purpose of the hearing, citing developments including the Attorney General's intervention in a similar case in May (Matter of Dorman) and noted that the issues involved in this case existed in a context that was "fluid" and "in a state of flux." The Judge referred to events that occurred as recent as yesterday as having an impact on how to proceed. Yesterday, the DHS Secretary Napolitano ordered a review of all pending deportation cases for possible closure, including those involving LGBT families."

 So basically, the administration has set a precedent that confuses the issue enough that it is no longer crystal-clear that these undocumented immigrants require deportation.  Whatever the reason, Sujey and Violeta have much to celebrate.  Congratulations to them.

Maine Marriage Equality Part Deux

One of the big shockers of the past decade in the struggle for LGBT equality in America was our defeat in a Maine referendum in 2009.  The Northeastern state had seemingly struck a victory for the good guys with a legislative bill legalizing same-sex marriage until NOM and friends intervened, successfully placing the bill on hold and then passing a voter-approved law banning gay nuptials.

Well, Mainers, get ready, because it's about to get rehashed again.

Today, same-sex marriage advocates in Maine announced that a citizen initiative campaign for a law allowing same-sex couples to marry cleared its first major hurdle with the Secretary of State’s approval of the language of the proposed statute. This allows campaign volunteers and supporters to begin collecting the signatures required to put “An Act to Allow Marriage Licenses for Same-Sex Couples and Protect Religious Freedom” on the November 2012 ballot.

“I’m grateful to Secretary of State Summers for promptly approving the language of the proposed law to let same-sex couples marry in Maine,” said Pastor Michael Gray of Old Orchard Beach United Methodist Church, one of six original signers of the initiative petition. “As campaign volunteers fan out across the state to collect signatures from their fellow Mainers I expect they will encounter thousands of willing signers who have changed their hearts and minds on marriage after getting to know their gay and lesbian neighbors, co-workers and community members – just as I have done.”

The Maine defeat was a crushing blow to equality, and many advocates are excited to see the referendum process start again.  In order to place the bill on the ballot, thousands of petition signatures are needed.  Then begins the grueling campaign to convince voters in 2012 to allow gays to marry.  However, with the passage of marriage equality in New York State, many are hopeful that Maine will signify a new victory in the countrywide fight to defeat bigotry and inequality.

Happy Anniversary To Me

I passed the one-year-mark of me spouting my bullshit to you guys on this blog five days ago without even noticing.  My first post of substance?  A rant about how Bono can't save Spider-Man The Musical.  Oh, look how the times have changed.

Since then I've passed many milestones, both personal and professional.  I admitted to my readers (and friends, which really just means all my readers at the time were friends) that I was a crystal meth addict.  I traveled to DC in order to take part in history and handcuff myself to the fence of the White House in protest of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  I traveled to and attended Netroots Nation, where I learned that the blogging community is a tight-knit (if somewhat dysfunctional) family of misfits and, I must say, insanely intelligent people.

I laid bare my search for my missing friend Adam.  I found him.  Now I get to marry him.  Isn't love grand?

I've bared my soul and my curmudgeonly hatred of idiot politicians to you guys, and it's been a hell of a year.  

I can only hope for as exciting a year going forward, if hopefully one unmarred by personal tragedy.  I'm planning some great things, both in work and life, and can't wait to reveal them to you.  

I feel very blessed to have this outlet for my views and my thoughts, and even more blessed that so many of you read my read it.  Not only have I passed one year of blogging, but yesterday, my last post of the day was the 1,000th entry on this crazy train, and the fact that you guys have read 1,000 pieces of my schlock is touching and gratifying.  

Of course, not all of it is mine.  I have some great people who have guest posted on my site, and I thank them as well.  Your next pieces are due by Friday, or you're all fired.  

Just kidding.  Mostly.

So thank you, friends.  Even if I don't know you, you are all in my heart.  Whether you're a closeted bisexual gal just looking for a connection to the LGBT community or the asshole that made me do it, thank you.  All of you.  You are my extended but oh-so-dear to me family.

And keep reading.  It should be an exciting year.

Ian Awesome Goes To The Movies

I'm exhausted after the horrible events of last week and elated by the astounding events of this week, so I'm taking the rest of the day off to spend it with a certain loved one.  We're going to go see Harry Potter.  The news will continue tomorrow.

I'm very happy.

In Which Ian Awesome Loses His Mind

Adam has been released from the hospital and is definitely on the mend.  He's a little weak and shaky, and I suspect he's overwhelmed by the events which have taken place, but I am optimistic that everything is going to be ok.

Fuck that.  Things are going to be more than just ok.  Things are going to be awesome.  Because, you see, Adam and I decided that life is too fucking short to beat around the bush and he asked me to marry him.  I said yes.

Before you say that this is crazy: Adam and I have courted each other off and on for the past three years, and have even been roommates.  We know each other better than many people who do get married, and I can't think of a better partner-in-crime for my various misadventures.  It's not every day that one of my favorite people on the planet tells me he wants to spend the rest of his life with me, and you know what?

Just a few days ago I thought I was going to lose him and it tore my world in half.  The instant he looked up at me from his hospital bed, I had already decided I needed to mend that world by having him in it.  When he told me he wanted to marry me, I said, "You beat me to it."

It will take us many months to put this all together.  Even though we came to this decision very quickly, we are not rushing gettin' hitched.  He still has a lot of things he needs to do in Joplin, to include getting better, and I need time to get my situation in Seattle sorted out.

But motherfuckers, I'm getting married.


Er, who wants to chain themselves to something with me in Seattle to get a marriage license?

Gay Cuban Man To Marry Trans Woman On Castro's Birthday

This couple has decided to celebrate the former Cuban dictator's birthday in a very special way: by getting married, with dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez as matron of honor.

Yoani Sanchez

"Wendy Iriepa, a 37-year-old who underwent a sex-change operation in 2007 on the island, and Ignacio Estrada, a 31-year-old gay man who is seropositive, will marry in an open ceremony that they hope will mark a 'before and an after' in Cuba with dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez as matron of honor.

"'We met on May 13 of this year and we always intended to get married three months later,' Estrada – who considers himself gay but had fallen in love with Wendy, now a woman – said.

"But the couple also decided to tie the knot on the 'controversial' date of Aug. 13 to coincide with Castro’s 85th birthday and emphasize the 'gigantic' step their union will signify for the island’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual, or LGBT, community."

Castro has since expressed regret for his actions against the LGBTs in Cuba. 

While I would argue that Estrada is bisexual and their marriage is a straight one, I'm never one to dictate to someone how to identify their sexuality.  Congrats to the couple.

Adam Wagner: Still The Sassy Bitch I Love

I got in last night to Joplin's airport about 9pm local time.  Congratulations, Joplin!  You officially have the tiniest airport I've ever seen.

After the stress of the past few days, a pitcher of beer was definitely called for, so Denver and Heather (a brother/sister team who are good friends of Adam's) took me out for a couple hours.  We visited one of the local divey joints, then I got taken to Joplin's gay bar, where the beer was light and the clientele... classy.  Sidebar: you can still smoke in bars here!  WTF?  While many of you may be horrified, it was a novelty for a chimney like myself.

For once, I was in bed before midnight, being exhausted after my travels.  By the way, Dallas/Fort Worth airport?  I get that you might not believe in providing wireless access to freeloadin' hippies, but I think your capitalist sensibilities can possibly allow for people buying expensive plane tickets to be able to check their goddamn e-mail between flights.  

This morning the trolley to the hospital wasn't running until 10am, but we didn't want to wait to see Adam, so we walked a few miles across Joplin to get there.  We walked through the tornado zone.  I couldn't help but compare the devastation to the kind of ruin I had seen in war-torn Iraq.

We got to the hospital and then went to the ICU, where I met Adam's parents, who had kindly arranged with the ICU staff to allow Denver and I to visit him.  

I'm happy to report that although he is drugged, loopy, and does not yet quite understand what has happened to him, Adam is not only awake but is still the man that many of us love.  For those readers of mine who don't know Adam, he is a stubborn, foulmouthed, trashtalking little man, and after we hugged he related to me that he had cussed out a nurse then told Denver some rather ribald stories of the time that Adam and I worked together in a Seattle bathhouse. 

I.  Am.  So.  Happy.

Adam is fighting off pneumonia and has some form of blood infection, but is pumped full of antibiotics and I'm incredibly hopeful.  Even more amazing?  He has zero impairment to his brain function, and it shows.  He was lively, cheerful, and happy to see his friends.

So I'm going to breathe a sigh of relief and hopefully take the rest of the weekend off from blogging.  I've spent the past four days on the phone updating everyone and their mother, it feels, and while I will continue to update his condition on the "Friends of Adam Wagner" fan page on Facebook, OAQ will once again start putting up news stories by Monday.  There's fast and reliable wireless at the hospital, so I am looking forward to getting back to work in between visiting Adam.  As far as he goes?  No news is good news, so as long as you don't hear more about him on here, he is most likely still improving.

Thank you, all of you, for your support.  You've helped me through a very dark time, and when Adam is in a condition to peruse the blog, I'm sure he will appreciate the outpouring of love and prayers for his condition.  Please, feel free to leave a message of support in the "comments" section of this post, and I will ensure he gets them.  

Kisses, and stay well.  

Ian Awesome

I'm On My Way

I'm at the airport in Portland waiting to board my first flight.  I will be having lengthy layovers in both Denver and Dallas, and then I will finally board my flight to Joplin and be in Missouri at 9pm.  One of Adam's many loving friends is picking me up at the airport and I have a place to stay tonight, as well as Saturday night.

I don't want to burden any one person in Joplin with my presence overlong, as I am not leaving Missouri til the 23rd.  If you have a couch you would like to offer to a wandering friend of a sick dude, contact me at oneangryqueer@gmail.com or on Facebook via the OneAngryQueer fan page or the Friends of Adam Neil Wagner fan page.

Also, we are still trying to recoup the cost of my ticket to get to Adam, so if you would care to make a PayPal donation so my friend who purchased my fare can still pay her goddamn rent, also feel free to contact me at the above email address and I'll tell you how.

Thanks to everyone who made this possible.  We have good news on Adam-- while he is not fully conscious, this morning he opened his eyes and nodded to one of his friends who was visiting him.  I'm praying with just about every step I take that he will wake up soon and that he will still be the doofus that I love and that makes me smile.

Keep him in your prayers.

Adam, I'll be there soon.  Stay strong.

On The Road Again (Hopefully)

Adam is recovering, and I've decided that I need to get my happy ass to Joplin in order to see him.  A friend of mine is going to be buying me the ticket, but it's not cheap and she needs help.

If you can give anything at all, she has a Paypal account for an easy donation.  Please.  Send me to Joplin if you can.  

A quick update on his condition: he's resting, and hasn't woken up yet.  He looks like hell, and is fighting off a nasty pneumatic infection, but when you touch his hand his eyes roll like crazy.  He has healthy brain activity and is one lucky sumbitch.

So if you can help me get to him, please do.  He needs all the love he can get right now.  E-mail me at oneangryqueer@gmail.com if you would like to help.  Please consider doing so.  Ain't none of us rich, but every dollar will help get me there.

Adam Is Found, And He Is Alive

I don't have the complete story (though honestly, I could be standing by his hospital bed and still not have enough answers for my taste), but it looks like Adam might be okay.

For those of you who are not on my Facebook, Adam was found today on the brink of death.  When he was brought into the hospital, he was unable to breathe without a respirator and had zero brain activity.  As far as we know, either he or someone else injected him with a fatal dose of a narcotic and we had no hope left.  We, his friends, began leaving goodbye messages on his Facebook and sent his family our condolences.  Then we waited for him to die.

In part because he's a stubborn cuss and in part because of the many prayers that his friends, family, and many readers of mine offered, this evening Adam's brain became active.  While he is still not breathing on his own due to a severe pneumonia infection filling one of his lungs with fluid, the nurses by his bedside stated that he has a very good chance of a great recovery.

Thank you, dear friends, for all your prayers.  Thank you.  We're not out of the woods yet.  He took a turn for the better, and may yet take a turn for the worse.  I have hope though.  We all have hope.

Thank you, whoever is looking out for Adam.  Thank you for giving us hope.

Happy Fourth!

From Mashable comes this cool video-- a tiny camera attached to fireworks in order to record their flight, explosion, and fall to earth.




I normally celebrate the Fourth of July by hiding under my bed with the dog (I'm terrified of explosions), but I might take a long bike ride and then go to bed early.  We will see.

Sen. Saland Is The Winning 32nd Vote: Gay Marriage Has Been Passed In New York State

After a horribly boring speech by Senator Saland, he put himself on record as "yes," ensuring the passage of crucial amendments paving the way for same-sex marriage in New York State.

Sen. Ruben Diaz very bizarrely interrupted the proceedings in order to make his "no" vote known, but Saland refused to yield the floor until his vote was recorded properly and order was restored by the President of the Senate. Towleroad tweeted this:

Then the bill was announced as passed, prompting cheers from the gallery. I can only imagine the jubilation in New York right now, and I wish I was there. The end vote was 36 votes.

New York, congratulations from Oregon. This is a major step for every New Yorker, and indeed every American.

I had a rough day today, having been turned down for a job. But I am now filled with a sense of elation over this historic vote, and I have no doubt that New York is going to be a very very happy state this weekend.