Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) last week re-introduced a bill seeking to enable gay Americans to sponsor their foreign same-sex partners for legal residency in the United States. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) re-introduced the companion bill in the Senate. An Obama administration aide indicated the White House has not yet weighed in on the legislation. But, as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination last year, then-Senator Obama told the Human Rights Campaign that he supported the bill. The Leahy-Nadler bills seek to amend that law to add the words "permanent partner" to those qualified to seek such residency.
Permanent partner is defined as an adult who is in a committed, intimate, financially interdependent relationship with another adult in "which both parties intend a lifelong commitment."
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