WASHINGTON — A U.S. Senate committee has approved immigration reform legislation without including provisions for same-sex partners opposed by Southern Baptist and other evangelical Christian leaders.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13–5 on May 21 for a bill designed to provide broad reform for a system that seemingly everyone acknowledges is badly broken.
The lack of enforcement of the current system has resulted in an estimated 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States illegally.
It appeared support for the bill from many evangelicals, conservatives and Republicans would have vanished had the controversial topic of same-sex partners been interjected by the committee.
After recognizing the threat to passage of the overall bill, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D.-Vt., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, withdrew before a final committee vote his amendments supported by homosexual rights organizations.
One of Leahy’s amendments would have recognized for immigration purposes a same-sex “marriage” that is legal in a state or foreign country.
His other amendment would have enabled a same-sex partner of an American citizen to gain legal residency in the same way a husband or wife of a citizen does.
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