Thomas Joseph Hogan

New York Times on March 23, 1999: "...Tom Hogan and Alex Lopez were caught trying to skirt the legal limitations of a tourist visa three weeks ago, at the American border near Montreal. Mr. Hogan, an Irish national with a 10-year tourist visa, was stopped by immigration officials as he and Mr. Lopez, his partner of two and half years, tried to drive back to their home in New Jersey. Mr. Hogan had already come and gone a half-dozen times last year, in an attempt to show that he was not really living in the United States. The last time he had passed through immigration, however, an alert official said that he was spending too much time here and warned that it would be his final visit. Fearing rejection that Saturday night, Mr. Hogan hoped to take advantage of lax checks at the Canadian-United States border by posing as an American, and he offered up a driver's license and credit cards to prove it. The ruse failed. During seven hours of questioning, Mr. Hogan confessed that he did actually live here with his partner. His passport was stamped with a five-year re-entry prohibition and he was immediately deported. Speaking from Ireland the other day, Mr. Hogan said he had no idea how to rejoin Mr. Lopez. He said he was particularly worried about the health of his partner, who has AIDS. The worst thing, said Mr. Hogan, a nurse, is that if he were to get sick tomorrow, I can't just get on a plane to take care of him.Mr. Lopez, 38, a garment industry executive, said that he, too, was at a loss. I'm a good American, he said. ''I pay my taxes. Why don't I have a right to be with the person I love?'' Representative Jerrold L. Nadler, who has taken up the case, said he hoped to introduce legislation that would give same-sex partners immigration rights. But Mr. Nadler, a Democrat from New York, said he was not optimistic that such a bill would pass. In a Republican Congress, the chances are zero to none, he said. Anything you do to help gay people deal with real-life problems they see as an affirmation of the gay life style. The Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force, which has about 7,000 members and seven branches nationwide, has started a lobbying campaign to change the law, but its leaders acknowledge that it might be years before the changes gain favor in Congress. It has been only a decade, they point out, since Congress repealed a law that barred gay men and women from entering the United States at all. ..."