| Crossposted at OurChart.com and DreamActivist.org - Feel free to disseminate. In light of the massive uprising against Prop 8 in California and similar attacks on LGBT communities, this segment is dedicated to the queer and 'illegal' lives of our undocumented LGBT youth. President-elect Barack Obama has stated that undocumented students raised in the United States are “Americans for all intent and purposes.” Yet, these undocumented American are punished for the alleged transgressions of their parents, and face many barriers to their DREAMs upon graduation from high school—often they cannot attend college, drive or work legally, obtains loans, or even legalize their status. While illegal presence is not a crime, anti-immigrant hysteria has effectively given them the tag of ‘criminal.’ The situation gets worse with the heteronormativity of U.S. immigration laws. The fact that even LGBT immigration organizations like ‘Immigration Equality’ and the elitist 'Human Rights' Campaign pay scant attention and continue to ignore the plight of undocumented gay students in the United States makes the situation even more precarious. This is not just a gay issue or Latino issue; it is a human rights issue and undocumented queer students are caught in the middle of two ensuing culture wars: the battle for gay rights and immigrant rights, neither of which is seen as a civil and human rights struggle by the mainstream. In this entry, you will come across undocumented LGBT youth from diverse backgrounds, states and circumstances that have come together in these waiting rooms of history to share the limbo of their lives. Juan and Felipe depict how love cannot be illegal, Mohammad expresses how going back to Iran is certainly not an option, Prerna represents a life in isolation with a desire to succeed against all odds, Karla wants to serve this country and Moreno is currently in high school with dreams of becoming an artist. |