Gay Who Wed L.A. Man Has Court Setback

A homosexual from Australia who “married” a Los Angeles man in an attempt to avoid deportation lost a crucial round Monday in his 10-year legal battle to remain in the United States when a federal appeals court ruled against him.

In a 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Board of Immigration Appeals did not abuse its discretion in deciding that Anthony Corbett Sullivan, 43, would not suffer extreme hardship by being separated from his “spouse,” Richard Adams, 38.

“We . . . find that the board has given adequate consideration to the individual claims in the case to exercise its discretion to deny the application,” the majority opinion by Judge Arthur M. Kennedy said.

According to the men’s attorney, David M. Brown of Beverly Hills, Sullivan met Adams, a U.S. citizen, while on a visit to Los Angeles in 1971. “They fell in love,” he said.

INS Petition

Sullivan stayed in Los Angeles and the two men petitioned the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1975 to grant Sullivan legal resident alien status.

In support of their request, the petitioners notified the INS that they had wed the year before in a religious ceremony in Boulder, Colo., after being issued a marriage license there by the city clerk. The men reasoned that if Sullivan were legally married to a U.S. citizen, permanent residency status would be virtually assured.

The Colorado attorney general ruled, however, that the marriage was invalid. And the INS, in a written notice, said the two men had failed “to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots.”

Outraged by the language contained in the INS notice, Sullivan and Adams decided to fight immigration authorities. They argued that Sullivan could not return to Australia because he would be persecuted by authorities there.

Because the two men have lived together since 1971, Sullivan also contended that his deportation would create an extreme hardship for his mate because Adams probably could not emigrate to Australia since he is homosexual.

In the majority opinion, however, Kennedy and Judge Richard H. Chambers disagreed, saying the board, which hears appeals from decisions issued by federal immigration judges, gave careful consideration to Sullivan’s arguments.

No Special Circumstances

“The BIA (Board of Immigration Appeals), after explicitly considering all factors relevant to the hardship determination in this case, concluded that these factors did not amount to the special and unique circumstances required to support a finding of extreme hardship sufficient to warrant suspension of deportation,” the opinion said.

Judge Harry Pregerson, in dissent, wrote:

“The BIA gave no recognition to the strain Sullivan would experience if he were forced to separate from the person with whom he has lived and shared a close relationship for the past 12 (sic) years. This failure to recognize Sullivan’s emotion hardship is particularly troublesome because he and Adams have lived together as a family.

“The BIA also gave short shrift to Sullivan’s assertions of employment difficulty and ostracism by his family and former friends in Australia.”

Brown, who earlier had said the appellate court was the last hope for the two men, said Monday that he and his clients will have no comment on the ruling until Wednesday.