Fund helps LGBT undocumented immigrants with DACA fees - 3866 - Gay Lesbian Bi Trans News

(San Francisco, CA, September 21, 2012)—Young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender undocumented immigrants struggling to pay application fees under President Obama's new "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" (DACA) can now receive financial help.

Today, the LGBT Dreamers Fund—made possible by more than $75,000 in contributions from LGBT movement leaders—officially begins accepting applications, giving many young LGBT undocumented immigrants a chance to apply for the protections available under the President's new program.

The President's program allows young people who were brought to the country as children to apply for relief from deportation and for two-year renewable work permits. The program is the result of several years of advocacy led by young undocumented people, who are known as "Dreamers" because of their active support of the federal "DREAM Act," the stalled federal bill that would put Dreamers on the path to permanent U.S. residency and eventual citizenship. A significant number of Dreamer leaders are members of the LGBT community and have been instrumental in making "coming out" as undocumented one of the DREAM Act movement's most effective organizing tactics.

Under current law, Dreamers are not eligible to work, making the DACA application fees of nearly $470 largely out of reach. The National Center for Lesbian Rights and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center rallied other LGBT organizations across the country to contribute to the "LGBT Dreamers Fund" to help young LGBT undocumented immigrants pay these fees.

Launched with a challenge grant from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, 49 organizations and individual leaders (listed below) have contributed so far to the fund, which has been established at the Liberty Hill Foundation. Applicants can apply for the fund at www.LibertyHill.org/LGBTDreamersFund beginning at 9 a.m. PST today.

"This will truly help change lives, and gives us an opportunity to achieve goals that seemed completely impossible for most of our lives," said 28-year-old Jorge Gutierrez, a leader in the national DREAM movement who is gay and also the project coordinator of the Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project, a project of United We DREAM. "Coming out as gay helped me come out as undocumented, which has been so much more difficult and challenging. I was brought to this country as a young child, and raised here by a hardworking single mother who devoted her life to making lives better for my siblings and me. It was with her determination and support that I was able to go to college, pay for tuition without any financial assistance, and earn a bachelor's degree in English from Cal State Fullerton. Since graduation I have been unable, due to my immigration status, to use my skills to give back to this country that has given me so much. President Obama's program and this fund will really help change lives—clearing the way of obstacles for others like me who are eager to make a difference and now have the opportunity."

Said NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell: "With extraordinary courage, creativity, and tenacity, LGBT Dreamers have been at the forefront of this movement for basic fairness and equality. When President Obama rose above politics to do the right thing for these brave young people we were moved, grateful, and wanted to help. We need these hardworking, talented youth to build a stronger future, and they need and deserve a chance to stop living in fear and on the margins. But the reality is that most of these young people will not have a chance to apply because of the cost. This fund is at the core of what our movement is about—standing together and making a difference in the lives of people who are part of our diverse community."

The Liberty Hill Foundation is overseeing the administration of the fund, which includes processing the online applications, vetting all applications, and disseminating the funds.

The LGBT Dreamers Fund will be available on a first-come, first-served basis for qualified candidates.

Fund contributors so far:

Aaron Belkin, Executive Director of the Palm Center

Center on Halsted (Chicago)

The Center/GLBT Community Center of Colorado

Cream City Foundation (Milwaukee, WI)

The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada

Centerlink

Equality Federation

Equality Maine

Family Equality Council

Freedom to Marry