Rufus Wainwright, GLBT History Month Icon and One-Half of Binational Couple

By Christopher Edwards on 10/29/2010 @ 05:24 PM

Tags: UAFA, Allies, In the News

All this month Equality Forum has been celebrating GLBT History Month by highlighting various icons within the community. From George Washington Carver to Mara Keisling and Kiyoshi Kuramiya, the list is a powerful reminder of LGBT voices from throughout history.

Today's icon is Rufus Wainwright who is particularly important to the binational community as he's found his voice as a supporter of equality because of his relationship with German theatre producer Jörn Weisbrodt.

For the uninitiated, Rufus Wainwright, the son of the folksinger legends Katie McGarrigle and Loudon Waingwright III, has since 1998 been known for his own musical contributions and artistic endeavors, including pieces in the soundtracks of Moulin Rouge and Brokeback mountain.

In 2005, Rufus began dating Weisbrodt who in turn inspired Rufus to talk about the discrimination to same-sex partners in immigration:

"I have been with Jörn for five years and he's the light of my life. He's my inspiration, support and he's good in the sack, too! But I am very aware of living in the U.S., of the conundrum that you can't marry your gay partner and give him citizenship."

"He has to apply for a green card and he may or may not get accepted, which is annoying when you're in a committed relationship. If we were straight, we could get married and he'd get his American passport and it would make a lot of sense. I wasn't a huge gay marriage supporter before I met Jörn … But since meeting Jorn that all changed."

It's a story many those of us in binational relationships know to well. The frustration of not being able to live freely in your home country with the one you love has inspired my own activism and I known many of you that feel the same. As we think about those people that have offered their contributions to our fight for equality and our LGBT history, we think about those whose stories include immigration.

We offer our congratulations to Rufus on his being an icon of LGBT history and offer our thanks to him for using his celebrity platform to talk about the immigration discrimination faced by his family and thousands of other binational couples.

Photo courtesy of GLBT History Month.