Andrew Sullivan: “this is the first time in history, including interracial marriage, that the federal government in terms of immigration, has tried to split couples up.”

The Sunday, April 22 edition of FAREED ZAKARIA GPS included an interview with Andrew Sullivan, editor of “The Dish” and columnist for Newsweek, about immigration.  Sullivan offered very personal reflections, describing his dashed hopes at becoming an American citizen following learning his HIV positive status in 1993, and because his status as a married homosexual does not grant him federal recognition as a spouse by the American government.  A highlight of this interview is below:

SULLIVAN:  …If the Defense of Marriage Act were to end, then this would end, too. But this is the first time in history, including interracial marriage that the federal government, in terms of immigration, has tried to split couples up. It didn’t do it even with interracial. It recognized those states where interracial marriage was legal and didn’t recognize them in those states where it was illegal. It deferred to the states.  This is the first time in American history that the federal government decided we will split couples up.

FAREED ZAKARIA GPS airs Sundays on CNN/U.S. at 10:00am and 1:00pm ET, and at 8:00am and 3:00pm ET on CNN International.  The full transcript of this program may be found here.

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