equality

Same-Sex Couples Can Now Get Visas

Giving them equal footing with heterosexual couples.

Thanks to a new policy from secretary of State John Kerry, same-sex married couples applying for visas to the U.S. will now have equal treatment as heterosexual partners. The change means that gay couples will have visa applications considered together instead of separately, and comes after the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act. It applies to both foreigners in a legal marriage with a U.S. citizen and foreign same-sex couples who are legally married. "Now, as long as a marriage has been performed in a jurisdiction that recognizes it, so that it is legal, then that marriage is valid under U.S. immigration laws, and every married couple will be treated exactly the same," Kerry announced Friday.