Eric Manriquez, a U.S. citizen, has been legally married to Juan Rivera, an undocumented immigrant, for five years in California, yet Rivera can't apply for a green card through marriage as heterosexual spouses can, because the federal government doesn't recognize their union.

I'm British and have lived in the UK my whole life. I never expected to find myself with a partner from another country. Having to deal with the distance was hard enough, but what happens when one partner can't expect to be sponsored for citizenship in the other's country?

You decided to exclude the gays, the people who worry everyday that their partner will be deported, who watch their partners cry because they can't visit a sick father, who believe in the justice we seek for all immigrants because the suffering is identical and must end for us all.

Lesbian and gay Americans and permanent residents will still not be able to sponsor their loved ones for permanent residency. LGBT organizations and coalition partners will vigorously protest, but at the end of the day, we will still be left out in the cold.

Long before immigration reform was the hot topic it is today, Judy Rickard and her wife, Karin Bogliolo, were in the trenches spreading the word about the harsh reality for same-sex binational couples trying to remain together in the U.S.

Homeland Security is avoiding the deportation of some same-sex partners. Still, 50 LGBT and immigration advocacy groups have asked President Obama to announce an official freeze on deportations of LGBT people until DOMA can be decided, but no action has been taken.

The fact is simply that any remaining opposition to the inclusion of gay families in immigration reform is marginal, and it is not the official policy of the vast immigration coalition network that is now working tightly with the LGBT community.