Part 1

Part 2

The LGBTQ Immigrant Rights Coalition is a collaboration between organizations serving the primarily lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations, and institutions advocating for immigrant rights. In order to play an effective role in achieving the stated goals, the members of the coalition collaborate to:

• Engage the LGBTQ community in immigrant rights work, including businesses, institutions, legislators, and grass-roots organizations;
  
• Increase visibility of LGBTQ people affected by immigration policy to highlight the intersections amongst these communities, specifically through personal testimonies and media campaigns;
  Support immigrant rights organizing, public policy advocacy, and resource-gathering through collaboration;
  
• Engage immigrant rights organizations and institutions whose work is not LGBTQ-specific to include LGBTQ issues, stories, and institutions in their public advocacy and internal structure and values;
  
• Dialogue with faith-based institutions for their support of LGBTQ inclusion in legislation and advocacy.
  
• Put pressure on elected officials to advocate for policy that promotes immigrant rights and is inclusive of LGBTQ people.

In addition to these goals, the coalition works to advance immigration legislation and public policy that:

• Respects human and civil rights;
• Is inclusive of same-sex couples and LGBTQ individuals;
• Provides conditional path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants residing in the U.S;
• Promotes family unity, including for same-sex partners;
• Guarantees that immigrants and U.S. citizens are free from arbitrary detention;
• Supports immigrant integration into U.S. society;
• Ensures worker’s rights and employer accountability in the labor market;
• Eliminates inhumane conditions that immigrants face in detention centers;
• Reforms ineffective and expensive border enforcement strategies.

The members of the coalition and our partners include advocacy groups, social service agencies, cultural associations, and faith-based groups who work with LGBT or immigrant populations. These include:

-          AIDS Foundation of Chicago
-          Amigas Latinas
-          Association of Latino Men for Action
-          Center on Halsted
-          Chicago Community and Worker’s Rights
-          Civil Rights Agenda
-          Congregation Or Chadash
-          Equality Illinois
-          Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights*
-          Immigrant Youth Justice League
-          Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
-          Lambda Legal*
-          Latino Organization of the Southwest
-          National Immigrant Justice Center
-          Office of Alderman Tom Tunney
-          Office of Congressman Luis Gutierrez
-          Office of Congressman Mike Quigley
-          Unid@s: The National Latino LGBT Human Rights Organization

As part of the LGBTQ Immigrant Rights Coalition these institutions are part of an expanding network of passionate, like-minded organizations and community leaders, providing ample opportunity to increase outreach through exposure to new audiences and communities. Additionally, membership facilitates access to new information and resources for the member organizations and constituencies, in particular to strengthen capacity to work with LGBTQ individuals and same-sex couples, including those who are undocumented.

For more information on the work of the LGBTQ Immigrant Rights Coalition visit almachicago.org/immigration, or reach our part-time coordinator at tania@almachicago.org, or (773) 661-0926.

* These organizations are not official members of the coalition as they are awaiting a pending vote from their board, but have been an integral part of the work and building of the coalition.