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Ed. note: This piece, by myself and Anthony Paull, will appear in next week’s issue of Creative Loafing.

For gays and straights alike, true love is hard to find. So when we’re lucky enough to stumble upon it, most of us will do just about anything to keep it.

Just ask Shannon Fortner. Sarasota resident by day and electro-rock siren by night, Fortner met her soul mate, Kelly Hollender, through the colorful confines of MySpace while networking in an attempt to book a small European club tour for her band MeteorEyes. Newfound love wasn’t necessarily on the set list, till one email led to many, resulting in eight months of overseas correspondence.

Quite the fairy tale. Except, thanks to international politics, it isn’t.

Under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, same-sex partners of U.S. citizens are not granted permission to be sponsored for family-based immigration purposes. That means Hollender, a 26-year-old UK native, cannot visit the States for more than 90 consecutive days under current visa waiver guidelines. She and Fortner have no choice but to travel across the pond in three-month bursts over the course of the last two years to keep their relationship afloat. Fans of MeteorEyes’ vast array of electro-psychedelic tunes, such as the hypno-trance-tinged “Escalator,” can hear Fortner’s inner heartache though microphone confessions regarding her struggle. She sings, “What would you do to get here? I would leap over one upon next, and you would be laughing the whole time, tripping over things.”

Before she fell in love with Hollender, the 30-year-old Fortner knew about the restrictive visa possibilities, but never thought it would affect her directly. “I was just hoping that be 2009 that it would be resolved,” she says, “but I guess not…” The separation has been difficult to endure, but the couple has made it so far: “That hasn’t stopped either of us from crossing oceans for our love.”

Nor has it deterred her from aligning family, friends and friends of the GLBT community to help support efforts to change U.S. immigration policies dealing with same-sex couples. Each of them makes it a point to alert their social circles about legislation they find discriminatory. Luckily, they’re not alone.

On Feb. 12, the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) was introduced in the 111th Congress by Sen.Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) as a means to amend the current law. The bill would allow U.S. citizens to sponsor their permanent, same-sex partners for family-based immigration. According to UAFA, the definition of a permanent partner is an individual at least 18 years old who is in a committed, lifelong relationship with another individual at least 18 years old who is not a blood relative. The same rules as those that affect heterosexual couples would still apply: UAFA requires proof of the relationship, including affidavits from friends and family. Penalties for fraud include up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

With 95 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and 17 in the Senate, UAFA recently caught the attention of President Obama, who White House spokesman Shin Inouye says plans to work with Congress to craft comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Inouye adds that the President “thinks Americans with partners from other countries should not be faced with the painful choice between staying with their partner or staying in their country.”

Great news for Fortner, who says legally residing with Hollender will help her once again believe in the American dream. “I am only trying to have the same right as my neighbors if they were in my predicament,” she says. “I waited a lifetime for this type of love. I want to share my life with Kelly for more than a few moments at a time.”

If granted the chance to sponsor same-sex partners, GLBT Americans like Fortner will follow the footsteps of gay foreigners living in 20 countries, including Spain, Switzerland and Sweden, all of which include provisions for homosexual relationships in their immigration policies.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, none of these countries have encontered problems with immigration fraud arising from gay and lesbian couples. Still, those who oppose UAFA, like Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, feel the act is an assault on the definition of family. “I would much prefer to export homosexuals from the United States than to import them,” states Sprigg.

Neverthelss, the GLBT community is not going to give up the fight any time soon, and, coupled with its allies, is urging U.S. citizens to write and call their representatives to urge them to co-sponsor UAFA.

For Fortner, unrelenting optimism can be found in the lyrics of her ambient track “Pip Pap Splish Splash.” She sings to fans, “We will be the change when you open your eyes.” If UAFA passes, she’ll have one more local fan: Hollender herself, who is dying to move to Sarasota. “She totally loves Sarasota,” Fortner says, “and she thinks everyone in the Sarasota community is really cool.”

To follow the most recent developments in the UAFA story, visit twitter.com/out4immigration and change.org.

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